


Unexpected Family (or How Madzie Became a Matchmaker)

by KarinaVasneva



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Alec Lightwood Deserves Nice Things, Alec adopts Madzie, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Domestic Fluff, Downworlder Politics, Downworlders Love Alec Lightwood, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Romance, How Do I Tag, In the end, Light Angst, M/M, Madzie is a smart little girl, Madzie is more observant than you think, Magnus Bane Deserves Nice Things, Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood Adopt Madzie, Original Character(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Parent Alec Lightwood, Protective Alec Lightwood, Single Parent Alec Lightwood, Slow Burn, We need more Madzie fics in this fandom, it's actually really fluffy, kind of?, madzie is adorable, supportive friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-06-09
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:27:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 32,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23973760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KarinaVasneva/pseuds/KarinaVasneva
Summary: When Magnus found out a shadowhunter, of all things, was taking care of a warlock child, well, to say he was shocked would be an extreme understatement.Centuries of experience with shadowhunters had taught him that they were not to be trusted. They were cruel, and had killed many of his kind simply for existing. The other thing that scared Magnus was that the shadowhunter was a Lightwood, and of all the shadowhunter famillies he'd met, the Lightwoods were by far one of the worse.-Or: Author wanted a cute single dad Alec fic where he adopts Madzie and Magnus sees them together and falls in love with Alec because he's a single shadowhunter parent to a warlock child.
Relationships: Alec Lightwood & Madzie, Magnus Bane & Madzie, Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Comments: 190
Kudos: 890





	1. Chapter 1

Alec woke up from the loud, irritating noise of his ringing phone. He groaned as he rolled over in his bed, reaching his arm out to grab the phone from the nightstand. Without checking the caller ID, he accepted the call.

“This is Alec Lightwood,” He said, trying to keep the grogginess out of his voice.

“Alec!” He heard his sister's familiar voice say over the phone, and sat upright when he heard the urgency in her voice, “We need you at the Institute as soon as possible.”

He pushed his bedsheets away as he stood up. His bare feet touched the cool floor and the cold air hit his skin, making him shiver, still not fully awake but more awake then he had been before. He got ready quickly, listening to Isabelle as she told him what was going on. By the time he was ready and Isabelle was finished talking, all of his previous exhaustion was gone, leaving him energized and ready to get to the Institute.

He walked the short walk to the Institute from his apartment. After he became Head of the Institute, he decided to get his own apartment, away from his job. Being Head of the Institute was a hard job and a full-time job, but that didn’t mean he had to live at the Institute full-time. He found he was more comfortable living in his own apartment, away from all the paperwork and problems he had to deal with whenever he was in the Institute.

As he walked he thought about what Isabelle had told him.

A few days ago, they had arrested a warlock named Iris Rouse, a notorious user of dark magic. It wouldn’t have been a big deal, if not for the fact that Iris had been taking care of a young warlock named Madzie. 

Since then, they had been trying to find a home for Madzie, contacting every warlock they knew. The young girl had been given to Catarina Loss, who had taken care of her for two days, but Madzie had been sent back to the Institute by an exhausted Catarina this morning, claiming she couldn’t take care of the young warlock girl any longer.

Alec was angry. He was angry at all the warlocks. Madzie had nobody to take care of her, she had lost the only parental figure she had ever had. Alec had seen how upset Madzie had gotten every time someone refused to take her.

He walked into the Institute, heading straight for his office, where Isabelle had told him she would be waiting with Madzie. He didn’t talk to anyone, and they didn’t bother him. He briefly wondered if they could tell he was in a bad mood, but ignored it in favour of focusing on the problem at hand.

He entered his office and was immediately met with a small but strong force colliding with his legs. It was Madzie, and the little girl hugged his girl as her body shook. It was with sudden horror that he realized the young warlock was crying, her tears wetting the fabric of his pants.

He picked her up gently, letting her rest her head against his shoulder. She kept crying, and her tears wet his shoulder. He brushed his fingers through the curls of her brown hair until her sobs slowed.

“What’s wrong, Madzie?” He asked, his voice soft in the way he reserved for kids.

“Nobody wants me,” She hiccuped, and Alec felt his heart breaking at the words.

Sadly, he couldn't say anything to her, since her words were technically true. So instead he adjusted her on his hip and turned to face Isabelle, who had watched the whole exchange silently.

“Hey Izzy,” He said and Isabelle gave him a small, tight smile.

She wasn’t happy about the situation either, and Alec knew she felt pity for the young warlock. Madzie was young, too young to feel unwanted. It wasn’t fair that she had to go through this sort of stuff at her age, but Alec had learned that that was the life of many warlocks. 

They didn’t choose who they were, they were born into it. They had no choice but to be warlocks, and yet they were punished for it. Alec believed that what mattered wasn't what you were, but what you did. It didn’t matter if warlocks were the children of demons, and it didn’t matter that they had magic. Those things didn’t make them good or bad people, it was what they chose to  _ do  _ with their magic that determined whether they were good or bad.

And Madzie, at her young age, hadn’t done anything wrong.

“We’ve run out of warlock contacts,” Izzy said, “I’m sorry Alec, there’s nobody who can take her.”

Alec felt a sudden rush of anger and protectiveness. He hugged the girl tighter against her to soothe her, since he could tell she was ready to start crying again at Isabelle’s words. Maybe it was how Madzie clung to him, maybe it was the way she rubbed her tear-filled eyes against his shoulder, maybe it was the way she looked up at him, her brown eyes sad and innocent, but Alec said something he never thought he would say.

“I’ll take her.” He blurted suddenly, but he found that he didn’t want to take the words back.

He did want the little warlock. She had grown on him during the short time they had known each other, and he didn't want any more harm to come to her. He wanted to be the one to protect her, to raise her.

He knew it would be difficult, since he was a shadowhunter and she was a warlock, but he found that he didn't care. He would need help, of course, once Madzie started getting stronger and needed training, since he wouldn’t be able to teach her to use her magic. He was young, and inexperienced, but he had also helped raise his siblings when they were younger, and so he thought maybe he could raise Madzie too.

Isabelle raised a perfectly arched eyebrow at him. “Are you sure?” She asked.

Alec nodded. Though the decision had been a sudden one, one he had given no particular thought to beforehand, he realized that he truly did want Madzie.

“Yeah,” He said softly, slightly breathless at the thought that he, Alec Lightwood, had a child now, “Yeah, I’m sure.”

-

Alec got off work earlier than usual, taking Madzie with him to show her the apartment that would become her home. 

Madzie had been quiet while Alec worked, colouring and playing with toys Isabelle had brought her. She was a good kid, and Alec smiled at the thought. Madzie had drawn him a few pictures and he had taped them to the walls of his office. The smile Madzie had given him when she saw her art on the walls was filled with pure, childlike, happiness.

He was walking with Madzie, hand in hand, and she was giggling as she swung their hands together back and forth. She was skipping happily, and Alec made sure to slow down to match her pace. 

Alec led Madzie to the apartment complex, and then up the stairs to his floor. They could have taken the elevator, but the little warlock had so much energy, and Alec wanted to let her get rid of that energy before he tried to put her to bed. He knew from experience with Isabelle and Max that putting an energetic child to bed was one of the hardest things to do, probably harder than fighting a demon.

He opened the door to his apartment and Madzie immediately ran in, her eyes sparkling in wonder as she took in the apartment. Alec couldn’t help letting out a soft laugh as Madzie looked around his apartment with childlike wonder.

It wasn’t much, honestly. He hadn’t lived there for very long, about 3 months, and he had been so busy with work as the Head of the Institute that he hadn't had the time to decorate. He had wanted to decorate, but the moment he finished his work and went home, he would usually collapse on his bed, too exhausted to do anything else. 

It was pretty bare, with a beige couch, covered by a white blanket, and a few mismatched pillows. In front of the couch, there was a small table, and a TV. The apartment only had two rooms, one of which was Alec’s and the other was still empty, bare except for the necessities, but would soon become Madzie’s room.

He led Madzie around the apartment, showing her the kitchen, his room, and finally the room that would become her room. He pushed open the door to the room and Madzie followed him inside.

The room was furnished, with a bed in the middle, a large closet, and a small bookshelf. Other than that, the room had no decorations.

“Can we decorate, Alec?” Madzie asked shyly, tugging on Alec’s arm.

Alec looked down at her, and noticed the nervous look on Madzie’s face, like she thought he would get mad at her for such a simple request. He gently put two fingers under Madzie’s chin and lifted her head so she was looking up at him.

“Of course we can decorate Madz,” He said softly, “But how about we do that tomorrow okay?”

The little warlock nodded excitedly, all of her previous sadness gone in a moment. He let Madzie pull him back to the living room, and soon the two of them were sitting on the couch, watching  _ Frozen _ . He had Madzie’s head in his lap, and he was gently brushing his fingers through her dark curls. When the credits rolled, he sat up slowly, careful not to go too quickly as to not shock the warlock.

Madzie hummed softly and burrowed deeper into him. He looked down at her sleepy face and decided to simply pick her up. She was already tired, and Alec knew it must have been quite a day for her.

He helped her brush her teeth and changed her into old pajamas that had once been Isabelle’s. He would have to go shopping for clothes for Madzie soon, but for now, the two of them both needed sleep.

He tucked the sleepy warlock into bed, but before he could leave her room she stopped him with a quiet, “Alec?”

Alec turned around to look at the warlock, who was sitting up in bed, clearly still tired but fighting to stay awake. He walked back towards her bed, sitting down next to her. She leaned into him comfortably, cuddling as if they had been doing it for years. 

“Can you stay?” She asked in a soft voice, barely above a whisper. If Alec hadn’t been so close to her, he wouldn’t have been able to hear the question.

“Of course princess,” He said, the nickname slipping easily from his lips. 

He pulled the blankets over himself and laid down on the bed, Madzie laying on his chest. He combed his fingers through her curls like he had while they had been watching the movie, and Madzie quickly fell asleep, already quite tired.

Alec waited until Madzie was comfortably asleep before he let himself relax. He closed his eyes and felt the exhaustion of the day catching up to him. He fell asleep in that position, a young warlock on his chest, and his arms wrapped protectively around her. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first fanfic, so I'm sorry if it isn't great. I'm also not English so I might make a few grammar mistakes (yes I know it's a stupid excuse but it's true). If you notice any mistakes feel free to message me and I'll fix them.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More Madzie & Alec moments. Magnus gets introduced in the story.

Alec woke up gasping for air. It took him a minute to remember where he was, and when he finally realized that he had fallen asleep in Madzie’s room, he immediately looked down at the young warlock. She was struggling against him, tears streaming down her face, and Alec realized that she was the one sucking the oxygen, using her gills. 

Alec gently tried to shake her awake, starting to feel lightheaded from the lack of air. She struggled even more against his hold until her eyes suddenly flew open.

They were blown wide, her brown eyes wide with tears. She took one look at Alec, who was still struggling to breathe, and immediately started bawling. Luckily, now that she was awake and understood she wasn’t in danger, she stopped sucking the oxygen and Alec could breathe again.

“I’m sorry,” She mumbled against Alec’s chest.

Her body was shaking with sobs, and Alec hugged her tightly as he caught his breath. She was curled into a ball on his lap, her tears were wetting his shirt and she had one hand balled in a fist and clutching at his shirt as if to make sure he didn’t leave. It was the second time in less than 24 hours that Alec had seen Madzie cry, the second time he had seen the self-hatred on Madzie’s face.

“It’s okay, princess,” He said softly, his voice almost a whisper in the darkness of the room, “It’s not your fault. It’s okay. I’m not hurt. It’s okay.”

He kept repeating the same soothing words until Madzie’s crying started to slow, and her grip on his shirt started to loosen. She was blaming herself for something she couldn’t control, and it wasn’t her fault. Alec decided that if he could do anything, if he could teach Madzie anything during the time she was staying with him, it would be that she should never feel bad about herself. Whether that be because of the fact she was a warlock, or because of her gills, or because of anything else. 

“I love you Madzie,” He whispered into her hair, the words sincere. 

-

The next day Alec was exhausted. After Madzie had woken up from her nightmare, he had spent all night watching her, worried she would have another nightmare. The young warlock had fallen back asleep, but Alec had been too worried.

He got out of bed at about 6 in the morning, deciding that he would make pancakes for breakfast. Usually he didn’t bother making a fancy breakfast, he would make himself coffee and sometimes he would make himself a slice of toast, but nothing more than that. He didn't have the time to make a large breakfast, since he had to get to the Institute quite early. 

Being Head of the Institute meant having a lot of responsibilities, and his work was long. The hours were also never the same. He often found himself stuck in his office from 7 in the morning to late at night but on other days he only had to do a bit of paperwork and he was out shortly after lunch.

But when he saw the sun finally rising, he made a quick decision. He showered quickly and brushed his teeth, deciding he should get that done before he did anything else, just in case Madzie woke up earlier than he expected. He knew that once she was awake he wouldn’t be able to get much done, not with a bundle of energy bouncing and running around him.

He headed to the kitchen and started to make the batter for the pancakes. He took out all the ingredients and started the process of making the pancakes, humming under his breath as he moved around in the small kitchen of his apartment.

He wasn’t the best cook but he knew how to make easy recipes, and he could certainly handle some pancakes. The food at the Institute wasn’t great, mediocre at best, and his siblings couldn’t cook to save their lives, so that left him. He had learned early on that it was better and safer for everyone he agreed to take the responsibility of cooking, since letting his siblings in the kitchen always ended with a disaster, inedible food that looked more like concrete than food most of the time, and sometimes- if Alec was especially unlucky- a fire or explosion of some kind.

So like he did with everything else, he took the responsibility. It was just another responsibility for him to shoulder, and he already had so many that one more wouldn’t make much of a difference, right?

That didn’t mean he didn’t enjoy cooking. He did, he just enjoyed it more when it was moments like this. He liked the comfortable silence of the kitchen, the easy feeling of following the recipe, and the delicious smell that wafts around the room when the food is finished. 

He decided to make chocolate chip pancakes, because all kids like chocolate. The moment Alec finished the pancakes, he felt someone watching him.

Perfect timing.

He turned around and saw Madzie, standing by the entrance of the kitchen, playing with a loose thread of her pajamas and watching Alec in something that looked like confusion? After turning off the stove, he walked over to Madzie, crouching down so that he was the same height as the little girl.

“I made pancakes, do you want some?” Alec asked Madzie, and she nodded shyly.

He cut a pancake in small pieces for her, making it easier for her to eat. He grabbed syrup from the pantry and put it on the table, available in case Madzie wanted any. Once Madzie had her food he took some for himself.

They ate quietly, Madzie still half-asleep.

As she ate she started to get more energy, and by the time she had finished her pancakes she was full of energy, just as Alec expected. She bounced around on the balls of her feet as Alec put the dirty dishes in the sink. When he was finished cleaning up, she grabbed his arm and dragged him to her room.

On her bed were several outfits, clothing Alec and Isabelle had found for her shortly after Alec had made the sudden decision to take in the young warlock. He let out a soft laugh when he saw the outfits on the bed, and Madzie spun around to face him, a serious expression on her face.

“This is important!” She declared, pointing at the clothing, “I need to have a good outfit! That’s what Magnus said!”

She was too adorable for Alec to take her seriously, but he tried to make his expression serious, if only to please the girl. He briefly wondered about this ‘Magnus’ she had mentioned, but waved it off. It was the name of High Warlock of Brooklyn, one of the many people Alec had had to contact when they had first found Madzie.

Madzie had met many people recently, both warlocks and shadowhunters and none of them had taken her in. They had claimed they were too busy, or just not fit to take care of a warlock. Whoever this ‘Magnus’ was, even if he  _ was  _ the High Warlock of Brooklyn, he hadn’t helped Madzie. Wasn’t that his job? To care for all the warlocks in New York?

Alec shook away his thought as he looked at the outfits. Madzie watched him expectantly, and he looked at the outfits thoughtfully, if only to make Madzie happy. In truth he knew nothing about fashion, and often wore all-black outfits.

He finally decided on a blue and white striped dress with little flowers and a pair of matching white leggings. She seemed happy with his choice, and ushered him out of the room, closing the door behind her so she could change.

When she was finished changing he helped her brush her teeth. He then handed her her scarf, which she quickly tied around her neck. When they were both finished getting ready, they walked out of the apartement hand in hand. Madzie was chatting animatedly, talking about any subject that passed through her head. Alec nodded along to her happy chatter, adding in small comments when it was necessary, and he found himself thinking he could get used to this.

He could get used to walking to the Institute with Madzie, early in the morning when the traffic of New York was bustling with people going to work. He could get used to making them breakfast and hearing her talk about everything and nothing. He could get used to holding her when she sleeps, of comforting her after a nightmare, and hugging her when she cries.

He smiled to himself at the thought, a small smile meant only for himself and the little girl with him, his little girl.

They made it to the Institute and Alec walked with Madzie to his office. He set her up with some papers and crayons like he had the day before and the warlock immediately got to work on drawing. Her expression was furrowed in concentration, her tongue poking out a little as she coloured, and Alec gave himself a few moments just to watch her.

There was a knock on his office door and he looked up, only to find Izzy. He smiled at his sister and motioned for her to come in, to which she shook her head.

“I was actually wondering if we could talk in the hallway?” She said and Alec understood the unspoken words that she was trying to say.  _ ‘Without Madzie’ _ .

He nodded and stood up, ruffling Madzie’s already curly hair and giving her a soft kiss on her head as he walked out into the hallway with his sister. He stopped briefly by the door when Madzie looked up from her paper and crayons.

“I’ll be back soon, just keep colouring.” He promised and Madzie nodded.

He closed the door so the young girl wouldn’t be able to hear his conversation with Isabelle, and leaned against the wall. Usually he would be more formal, serious, like a Head of the Institute should be, but this was Izzy. She had seen him at his worst and his best, and had helped him through it all. She could see through all of his bullshit, so there was no need for him to act when he was with her.

“Hermano,” She said once the door was closed, her tone worried and caring in the way only a sister’s could be. 

“What is it Iz?” He asked, trying not to sound too curt. He didn’t want to be rude to his sister but he had a lot of paperwork to get through and he was planning on going shopping with Madzie later to buy her everything she needed. 

“I just wanted to tell you that you don’t have to do this,” She said, her eyes flickering to the door of his office. Only then did Alec realize what she was talking about, but he decided to let her finish before he said anything.

“You’re already the Head of the Institute and that’s a lot of pressure,” She continued, her voice soft but not patronizing, “It’s great that you’re taking care of her, but if it gets to be too much you have to know that you don’t  _ have  _ to do this. We can find her someone else. There are plenty of warlocks in the world that we haven’t talked to yet.”

“No,” Alec said, his voice kind but firm, leaving no room for argument, “I  _ want  _ her, Izzy. And she feels so unloved, it breaks my heart. No child should feel unwanted just because of who they are.”

His voice was soft as he spoke, the words genuine and sincere and sad, the only sound in the quiet hall. Isabelle’s face softened and she gently put a hand on Alec’s arm.

“Okay, if this is really what you want then I’ll support you and help you in anything you need,” She said, “Just remember to take care of yourself, big brother.”

Alec nodded, relieved. Isabelle smiled and with that she was gone, leaving Alec standing in the hall alone. He turned back to his office and opened the door, peering into the room. It was just as he left it, and Madzie was still colouring, though she looked up when he came in.

She happily handed him the paper she had been working on, and Alec felt another smile force it’s way onto his face. It was like everything the girl did made Alec smile. The drawing was simple, a messy child’s drawing, but it was perfect. It was a picture of a little girl and a man holding hands. On top of the little girl she scribbled her name ‘Madzie’ and above the man she had scribbled ‘Alec’.

“Thank you princess,” He said as he taped it proudly onto his wall, “I love it.”

-

After Alec finished his paperwork, he brought Madzie to the mall. It was loud, and bustling with people, which made Madzie a little nervous. She clung onto his hand as her eyes darted around to take in her surroundings. 

“Are you okay? Do you want to leave?” Alec had asked her when they had arrived at the mall. He didn’t want to do anything that made her uncomfortable, and if she wasn't yet comfortable with crowds of people, he wouldn’t force her. Besides, he was sure he could simply ask Isabelle to go shopping for him, since he knew his sister absolutely adored shopping and would take any excuse to shop, even if it was for a little girl.

Madzie had shaken her head and looked up at him with determination in her dark brown eyes. “I’m okay.” She had said, and then she had walked inside of the mall with him.

They had shopped for about an hour, Madzie picking out anything she saw and liked. At first she had been nervous, not wanting to ask Alec for anything. But when Alec saw that she kept looking at a dress but not saying anything to him, he decided to bring up the subject. 

“If you want something you can just ask,” He had said, “I won’t be mad. That’s why we’re here, to buy you anything you want.”

“Anything?” Madzie had asked softly, her voice shy.

“Anything.” He had repeated back to her, smiling kindly.

Since then Madzie had relaxed, dragging him into any stores that grabbed her interest. He let her pick out any clothes she wanted and bought them without care for the money he was spending. The Institute had plenty of money, and Alec didn’t like to spend it on himself, but he felt fine spending it on Madzie. The little girl deserved it, after everything she had gone through. 

They had finally ended up in the food court, Alec carrying multiple bags filled with clothing, toys, and any other random things Madzie had found. They had stopped to buy a few decorations for Madzie’s room, and she had chosen a new princess bed cover and some lights that Alec was going to string up in her room once they got back to the apartment.

Alec mentally thanked his shadowhunter training and strength as he juggled the bags. He carefully put them down on the ground under their table. 

He got Madzie some french fries and- after she gave him her puppy dog eyes- he got her ice cream. He couldn’t say no to Madzie, and he could see it becoming a problem in the future. She was going to become a very spoiled little girl, not that she didn't deserve the spoiling.

Madzie munched happily on her food as she asked him questions. They talked and ate, and Alec felt all of his stress fading away. 

-

Magnus was adding the last finishing touches to his makeup when he heard the doorbell ring. Feeling the familiar presence of his two oldest friends, he let them through the wards. With a flick of his hand, the door to his loft opened, letting them in. He walked out of his room, confidence in his every step. 

“Ragnor! Catarina!” He greeted them.

“Hello Magnus,” Ragnor said, amusement clear in his features as he took in Magnus, his eccentric outfit, and makeup.

Magnus flicked the door closed behind them. They all got comfortable on Magnus’s couch, Magnus making and handing them drinks.

“How’s my sweetpea?” He asked Catarina once they were all settled.

Catarina looked at him with sadness in her gaze. He had known Catarina for centuries, she was one of his oldest friends, and he could decipher every one of her expressions. Now, she was looking at him with the expression she only wore when she was going to tell him something she knew he wouldn’t like.

“I couldn’t take care of her,” Catarina said, “I’m sorry, Magnus. I had a night shift at the hospital and I had no one to watch Madzie. I realized that I don’t have the time or the energy to take care of a child, and Madzie deserves better. I brought her back to the Institute.”

Magnus hummed, trying to hide his disappointment and sadness at the news. He hated the idea of a warlock child not being able to find a home, and had been immensely happy when he had heard that Catarina was taking Madzie. But he knew Catarina, and he knew that she was nothing but kind. She wouldn’t do this if there was another choice. She wouldn’t do this unless she was sure it was the best thing to do, for both her and Madzie.

“I happened to hear a rumour,” Ragnor said, swirling his drink casually when his two friends turned to look at him. Magnus knew that Ragnor wasn’t the biggest fan of rumours. He didn't care much for gossip or drama, so to hear  _ him,  _ of all people, bring up a rumour, it meant it had to be good.

“Apparently a shadowhunter adopted her,” Ragnor said finally after a long moment of painful silence, “Some werewolves saw her with a shadowhunter at the mall.”

Magnus almost spat out his drink.

“A  _ shadowhunter _ ?” He asked loudly.

“Yes, Magnus,” Said Ragnor again, not seeming to realize he had put Magnus into shock, or if he did, not caring.

“Who?” He said finally, once he had regained his cool composure.

“The Head of the New York Institute, Alec Lightwood,” Ragnor said, rolling his eyes at his oldest friend, “Really, Magnus, you’re the High Warlock of Brooklyn, you should know these things.”

Magnus didn't pay attention to Ragnor’s teasing, too caught up in the fact a  _ shadowhunter  _ had apparently adopted Madzie, his sweetpea. Not just any shadowhunter, the Head of the New York Institute, Alec Lightwood. He really hoped this was just a rumour. He didn’t know what he would do if this was true. If it was true that meant he had failed in his job as High Warlock. He had let an innocent warlock get taken by shadowhunters.

Years of experience with shadowhunters had taught him that they were not to be trusted. They were cruel, and thought they were above Downworlders. They had their stupid Nephilim laws that they pushed onto everyone, and killed anyone who didn’t abide by their rules. They had killed many warlocks for simply  _ existing _ .

The Lightwoods were one of the worst shadowhunter families he had ever met- and he had met many- which made this news even worse. 

He hated to admit it, but he was scared for the young warlock. 

Madzie had lived with Iris Rouse, until the warlock had been found and taken to the Clave. The Clave hadn’t known what to do with her, so the Head of the New York Institute, Alec Lightwood, had called him. He had been in contact with Alec Lightwood a few times, and though he seemed fine from their brief conversations, that didn't mean Magnus trusted him to take care of Madzie. A few brief, over the phone conversations couldn’t actually tell Magnus much about the other man. He had been polite, of course, but that was because he was a professional.

For now, Magnus decided he would talk to his oldest friends, relax, and drink. Tomorrow he would tackle the problem at hand. He would visit this  _ Lightwood  _ and check up on Madzie- and probably take her away from the Lightwood while he was at it. He had dealt with worse before, and he would deal with worse in the future.

It shouldn’t be too hard to take a warlock child away from a shadowhunter, after all, the shadowhunter couldn’t genuinely want her. It was probably just because they had found no other options. That had to be the reason he had agreed to take care of her, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This isn't beta read and it's also my first fanfic so I'm still learning how to use ao3. If there are any mistakes please let me know so I can fix them. Thank you so much for reading and thank you for all the comments and kudos I got on the last chapter.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I call this chapter: I wrote this at 2am and I don't know how I feel about it but I guess I'll post it anyways :/

Madzie knew it was bad to eavesdrop.

She knew that, but that didn’t stop her from getting curious when Alec was pulled into the hallway by Isabelle. He had ruffled Madzie’s hair and kissed her gently on the head before he had left the room, which had made the little girl happy, but she couldn’t help the nervous feeling that took over. Everyone had left her. Everyone had left her and now Alec was walking away from her to have a secret conversation and she couldn’t help being scared.

So despite the fact she knew eavesdropping was bad, she did it anyway. She had learned how to see through walls when she had been with one of the many warlocks who had abandoned her. She had seen one of the warlocks do it and later, after he had abandoned her, she decided to try it herself. It had worked quite well, actually, so Madzie decided to use that now to see through the walls and listen to Alec and Isabelle’s conversation.

Madzie was looking at the two of them through the wall. Isabelle was looking at Alec with a kind but serious expression on her face and Alec was leaning against the wall opposite from the door of his office.

“I just wanted to tell you that you don’t have to do this,” Madzie heard Isabelle say to Alec, “You’re already the Head of the Institute and that’s a lot of pressure. It’s great that you’re taking care of her, but if it gets to be too much you have to know that you don’t  _ have  _ to do this. We can find her someone else. There are plenty of warlocks in the world that we haven’t talked to yet.”

Madzie felt her blood run cold and she felt tears prickling in her eyes. Alec was going to leave her, just like everybody else did. She had thought he was different, because he had saved her from Nana and he had hugged her when she had a nightmare even after she had hurt him with her gills. Alec had let her watch a movie, even though Nana always said that movies weren’t for warlocks, they were for mundanes who didn’t know magic existed. Alec had made her pancakes and had let her eat as many as she wanted, he had even let her have syrup. But now Alec was going to leave her, because nobody wanted Madzie. Nobody wanted Madzie so why would Alec be any different.

She was about to run out of the office. She wanted to cry and scream and punch Alec for giving her hope, but she stopped when she heard him speak.

“No,” He said, “I  _ want  _ her, Izzy. And she feels so unloved, it breaks my heart. No child should feel unwanted just because of who they are.”

Madzie gasped in happiness. Alec wasn’t going to leave her. She quickly waved her hand to make the wall go back to normal, that way Alec wouldn’t know she had eavesdropped. If Alec wanted to keep her, that meant she had to be good. She had to be good to make sure he didn't change his mind.

She went back to colouring, and when Alec came back into his office she stood up to proudly show him her drawing. Alec’s eyes widened when he saw the colouring, but they were filled with love. He taped the colouring to his office wall, just like he had done with all of Madzie’s other drawings. When he was done he looked back at Madzie and smiled at the girl. Madzie felt happy. For a long time, she had been sad, but with Alec she was happy.

-

Magnus had been looking down at his phone for the last half hour. His original plan had been simple, call Alec Lightwood and ask to meet with him for  _ official business _ . Because Madzie, as a warlock in New York and therefore under his protection, counted as official business. 

But for some reason, he felt a little nervous. He had been avoiding making the call for the last half hour, deciding instead to change his outfit three times and his makeup twice. There was no need to do so, since he looked fabulous no matter what he wore, but it was just another one of his tactics to avoid talking to the shadowhunter.

He wanted to help Madzie, he truly did, but he  _ hated  _ shadowhunters. He had had so many awful experiences with shadowhunters, and now he was going to call one of them to ask for a meeting. He, Magnus Bane, was  _ willingly  _ going to ask to meet a shadowhunter. It went against all his morals, all the careful rules he liked to follow. So he put it off, deciding instead to finish a potion for one of his many clients. Of course, the potion was soon finished, and Magnus was back to doing nothing but staring at the phone, opened on Alec Lightwood’s contact.

With a long, suffering sigh, he pressed the call button.

“This is Alec Lightwood,” He heard the serious voice of the Head of the Institute answer after the second ring.

“Alexander,” Magnus greeted, “A little birdie told me you’re taking care of Madzie now? As the High Warlock I think it’s important we meet, so I can see how she’s doing. She is, after all, a warlock under my protection.”

He kept his voice light and airy, but he hoped Alec could sense the threat behind the words. If Alec heard it, he didn’t react to it. His tone when he spoke was neutral and professional, like it had been during all their previous conversations. It bothered Magnus a little, how professional Alec Lightwood always was. If he let his professional facade drop for even a  _ moment _ , Magnus would be able to see his true self. Magnus could see if he was truly a good person and if he deserved Madzie, or he could see if Alec was like all other shadowhunters. But the shadowhunter had clearly been made Head of the Institute for a reason, he was good at his job, his voice never wavering from the neutral, polite tone.

“Oh,” Alec said after a long moment, “Yes that’s- I suppose that’s probably a good idea.”

If Magnus didn’t know better he would have thought he heard disappointment in the shadowhunters voice. However, because Magnus  _ did  _ know better, he knew there was no way it was disappointment. It probably only had to do with the fact they were speaking over the phone. People sounded different over the phone, it was a well-known fact. It meant nothing.

“Wonderful,” Magnus said, keeping his voice light even as he said his next words, “Well, I’ll be at the Institute at 1:00, if that’s alright with you?”

“That’s good,” Alec answered, and then the shadowhunter hung up on Magnus. Magnus pulled the phone away from his ear when he heard the phone start beeping, telling him that Alec had ended the call. He didn’t know how to feel after the quite odd conversation he had just had with the Head of the Institute. But the shadowhunter had hung up on Magnus, which was quite rude. But the man was a shadowhunter, so what was Magnus expecting really.

He had known a few kind shadowhunters in his life, but they were rare, and that was quite a few years ago. Like Will Herondale, for example. The Herondale had been married to one of Magnus’s good friends, Tessa Gray, and had also helped Magnus escape Camille when their relationship had gone bad. Will Herondale’s niece, Anna Lightwood, had also been quite interesting. Almost all Downworlders had liked Anna, she was very different from other shadowhunters. She had been bold in her fashion choices, very ahead of her time. 

Magnus got lost in his thoughts of old friends from his past as he fixed his makeup absentmindedly once more. He glanced over at his phone and saw that it was already 12:52. With one more look at his makeup, Magnus used his hand to wave a portal into existence, mentally preparing himself to go to the Institute and talk to the Head. He was  _ not  _ excited for this.

-

Alec Lightwood waited nervously in his office for Magnus Bane to arrive. He had said 1:00, and it was 12:59. Alec had given Madzie to Isabelle, since he didn't want the little girl around while they talked about her. He didn’t know exactly what he and Magnus were going to talk about, and he didn’t want Madzie to hear anything that would upset her. So he had given her to Isabelle, and even though Madzie had wined about it, not wanting to leave Alec, the warlock had eventually, but very reluctantly, agreed.

There was a knock on Alec’s office door, and a shadowhunter named Isla walked in with Magnus Bane. The man was dressed in a black low-cut v neck shirt under a dark red blazer with a barely noticeable swirl pattern. He was wearing tight black jeans that hugged his legs in all the right places. His hair was short on the sides and longer in the front, spiked up with streaks of red. He was wearing three layered gold necklaces, and he had multiple rings adorning his fingers. His nails were painted a dark burgundy that went beautifully with the rest of his outfit. His makeup was flawless. He had smokey red eyeshadow and heavy eyeliner around his brown eyes. Alec felt his mouth go dry at the sight, and he suddenly felt extremely underdressed. He had to remind himself that Magnus was only here as a warlock, for Madzie.

“Thank you Isla,” Alec said, tearing his eyes away from the warlock with great difficulty. He knew that if he didn’t he would end up staring at the man for much longer than was appropriate, “You may leave now.”

The girl nodded without a word and left, closing the office door behind her and leaving Alec alone with Magnus. Alec suddenly realised he had no idea how he would manage to get through this meeting. He could barely think in the other man's presence, let alone form coherent thoughts and sentences. He felt something that felt suspiciously like butterflies fluttering in his stomach when Magnus walked further into the office and closer to Alec. Alec tried to school his features into a neutral expression, though he wasn’t sure it was working.

“Mr. Lightwood,” Magnus greeted, and  _ oh god _ Alec felt himself melting at the sound of the man’s voice. He had a fruit voice, deep and strong in a pleasant way.

“Warlock Bane,” Alec said to the warlock, and mentally congratulated himself on getting the words out without stuttering. He stood up, sure his face was red but deciding to ignore it in favour of being professional, and walked over to the warlock, stretching his hand out for the other man to shake. Magnus looked at his outstretched hand for a moment, as if he was confused by the action, but he slowly shook Alec’s hand.

“Please, sit down,” Alec said, his composure slowly but surely coming back. 

Magnus took a seat and Alec went back behind his desk to sit down as well. It was then that Alec realised he truly had no idea what the warlock wanted to talk about, other than the fact it was about Madzie. He decided to wait until Magnus spoke first, letting him say whatever he needed to say.

“I’ve heard that you have taken Madzie in?” Magnus asked, straight to the point, and Alec nodded. He wasn’t ashamed of it, and he didn’t care what the warlock thought about him. He loved Madzie. “You have to understand why it’s… difficult for me to trust that you’ll take care of her. She’s a warlock, and centuries of experience have taught me that your people don’t exactly like warlocks.”

“I understand your concern,” Alec said, and he did, “But you don’t have to be worried about Madzie. I promise to take care of her.” He didn’t know if his promise would be enough to convince the warlock, but it was the truth. He only hoped that Magnus believed him.

“That’s kind of you Alexander,” Magnus said and Alec had to suppress a shiver at the use of his full name, “But that’s not the only issue. A shadowhunter  _ cannot  _ raise a warlock. There are simply things you won’t be able to deal with. What happens when Madzie’s magic starts to get stronger, and she needs proper training? What happens when Madzie realises that she can use her magic against you if you ever have a fight? I’m sure you’ve probably already had a situation where you were helpless in helping Madzie, because  _ you’re not a warlock _ . As the High Warlock of Brooklyn, it’s my job to protect all warlocks in my area, and that means Madzie. I will be taking her, and I’ll find her a good warlock who can properly take care of her and her needs.”

Alec thought about the words Magnus was saying. It was true, he didn’t have magic. And it was true that he had already had an accident with Madzie. He remembered when he woke up and Madzie was having a nightmare. She had been using her warlock mark, without realising it, and Alec hadn't been able to breathe. If he hadn’t woken her up in time, he could have died. But he hadn’t, he had managed to wake her and comfort her, despite the fact he was a shadowhunter. He  _ could  _ take care of Madzie. He might need help with a few things, like Madzie’s magic training when she was old enough, but he could cross that bridge when they got to it. 

“No,” He said, his tone strong and final. He no longer felt nervous looking at the eccentric warlock. All he could feel was anger, and fear, at the idea of Madzie being taken away from him. It took over his thoughts and he spoke before he even realised he had opened his mouth.

“No?” Magnus retorted, his face twisting in anger, “You have no say in this decision! I was trying to be nice, trying to be  _ polite,  _ but if we can’t do this professionally, I’ll just take her!”

The warlock was yelling now, and Alec felt his blood boil. Nobody, and he meant that, would be taking Madzie. How  _ dare  _ Magnus come in here, and say he was going to take Madzie away. Especially after everything Madzie had been through. She had been rejected by almost every warlock she had met, where had Magnus been then? He was immensely glad there were silence runes around his office, or else he worried the entire Institute would be able to hear them.

“You were supposed to protect her!” Alec yelled back, slamming his hands on his desk loudly to catch the warlock's attention and interrupt him, “She has been through  _ so much _ , and you  _ weren’t there _ ! You claim you’re protecting her by taking her from me, but I’m not the one she should be protected from!  _ I _ was the one who saved her,  _ I _ was the one who has been taking care of her! Where were you and your ‘ _ good warlocks who will take care of her _ ’ before? When she was upset and in pain!  _ Where were you then?” _

Magnus had his magic flaring around him, twisting around his fingers in a threatening manner. He glared at Alec, and Alec glared right back.

“I will be taking her,” He said slowly, the words coming out as more of a hiss than anything else. “And you can’t stop me.”

With that, he spun elegantly and used his magic to open the door of Alec’s office. He walked out of Alec’s office with determination in his every step. Alec groaned and rubbed at his head when he realised what he had just done. He had let his protective instincts take over, and now there was no way he would be able to talk professionally with the warlock.

Alec stood up from his desk and followed the warlock, who was walking towards Isabelle’s room, where Alec knew Isabelle and Madzie could be found. He wondered how Magnus knew where to go, but he ignored in favour of running so he could catch up to the warlock who was a few steps ahead of him. Mgnus simply ignored him and kept walking towards Madzie, flicking his finger and sending a blast of magic at Alec when Alec tried to stop the warlock. The magic sent him flying into the wall, but Magnus didn’t stop.

This was  _ not  _ going the way Alec had planned. 

-

Madzie was giggling happily with Isabelle, the sadness she had felt at leaving Alec completely forgotten. Isabelle was nice, just like Alec was, and played with Madzie. They were playing with some of the toys Madzie had bought the previous day when she had gone to the mall with Alec. Isabelle was holding one of the dolls and Madzie was holding the other as they pretended to have a conversation between the two dolls.

They were interrupted by the door swinging open. Both Madzie and Isabelle looked up at the noise, and they both immediately dropped their dolls, but for different reasons. Isabelle put her hand on the whip around her wrist, ready to attack. Madzie jumped up and ran up to the man who had just walked into the room, hugging him tightly. 

“Magnus!” She yelled happily, and giggled when the man picked her up and swung her around. Magnus was one of the warlocks Madzie had met when she was staying with Catarina Loss. The nurse had taken care of her for a good week, but was very busy and didn’t have time to be there for Madzie when Madzie needed her. Magnus had watched her a few times during that week, and he was always inventing fun games for them to play with their magic.

“Sweetpea!” He said, his face breaking into a large smile when Madzie hugged him.

“Why are you here?” Madzie asked, though she didn't let go of Magnus, still hugging him tightly. Magnus smiled down at her when he said his next words, making her smile happily and giggle.

“You’re gonna come stay with me for a bit.” He said.

“Like a sleepover?” Madzie asked, a soft gasp escaping her throat as her dark eyes sparkled in happiness. She loved sleepovers with Magnus. She had stayed at his house when Catarina had had a night shift at the hospital, and it was one of the best nights of Madzie’s life.

“Exactly like a sleepover!” Magnus exclaimed with just as much excitement as the young girl.

That was when Madzie spotted Alec walking towards them. She shook herself out of Magnus’s arms and ran up to Alec, tugging on his hand to get his attention. She was too caught up in her own excitement that she didn't notice the way he seemed to wince in pain at the moment, or the way his smile didn’t reach his eyes, even though he always smiled when he saw Madzie. He looked down at her, his eyes filled with disappointment and sadness when he saw the happiness on Madzie’s young face.

“Alec!” She said when he finally looked down at her, “I’m gonna have a sleepover with Magnus! I love sleepovers! It’s gonna be so much fun!” The girl kept babbling as she skipped around the room, too caught up in her own happiness to see the tension between the two men.

“Yeah, princess, you are,” Alec said, sighing resignedly and trying to fake a smile at the young warlock's happiness. She was happy at the idea of going with Magnus, so Alec was going to pretend it didn’t break his heart to send her away. He was going to pretend he was okay, because that was what he always did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know how I feel about this chapter but I guess I'll post it anyway. Like I've said before I'm not English and this isn't beta-read so sorry if I made any mistakes.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I call this chapter: I'm exhausted and have writers block so it might be bad but I tried.  
> Madzie goes back to Alec but we don't see any Madzie & Alec scenes in this chapter.  
> Also I'm sorry if this chapter seems a little rushed. I've been having writers block and I just wanted to skip this part of the story but I couldn't because plot is important.

** Chapter 4: **

Alec was miserable. 

Ever since Magnus had taken Madzie, he had felt empty. He had gotten used to the little warlock a little  _ too  _ quickly, and had forgotten that him having her was only temporary. He had known all along that she would eventually leave him, he had just hoped it wouldn’t be so soon. He had expected more time with the little girl. Now that she was gone everything felt wrong.

He tried to go back to life before Madzie, but everything seemed dull. He missed Madzie. He was used to her colouring in his office while he did his paperwork, he was used to her periodically distracting him from his work to show him something she had made. He was used to seeing her try and use her magic, only for small things of course, and he was used to seeing her beam when it worked. Now he had nothing distracting him from the dull paperwork he had to do for the Clave. Madzie had been like a light, brightening his life with only her presence. Now someone had snuffed out that light, and he was left in the dark, to crawl his way back to his life before the light.

Alec had been angry at Magnus when he had taken Madzie. That was only made worse by the argument they had had and the fact that Magnus had used his magic against Alec. Alec knew that what Magnus had done was nowhere near his full power, and he could have done much worse.

Alec hadn’t wanted to cause a scene, since he knew it would get back to the Downworlders. To the Downworlders, he knew, it would look like a shadowhunter abusing his power. He wanted to be allies with the Downworlders, and that would never happen if he didn’t take the first step. Three out of four of the Downworld species are immortal, and that meant they had seen many shadowhunters abuse their power over the years. Most had probably also  _ experienced  _ shadowhunters abusing their power and doing awful things with said power, at some point in their lives.

Alec understood why Magnus had reacted the way he had, but that didn’t mean he liked the way the other man had handled it. Magnus was old and powerful, and Alec had read through his Clave file. He had been there when they had first made the accords, and he had been there during Valentine’s first uprising. He had seen shadowhunters do many awful things to warlocks throughout his centuries of living, so it wasn’t that surprising to see his reaction to Alec taking care of Madzie. Magnus had been alive when shadowhunters still killed warlocks and took their warlock marks, collecting them like trophies.

So despite the fact that Magnus had used his magic against Alec, and despite the fact that many shadowhunters had been around and could have stopped him, Alec had let Magnus go see Madzie. His plan had not been for Magnus to actually  _ take  _ Madzie, he had simply wanted Magnus to see that she was happy and wasn’t hurt. He had hoped Magnus would let Alec keep Madzie if he realised that Alec was actually being good to her.

That hadn’t happened. Which meant Alec was back to doing paperwork in his office all day, and dealing with all the problems caused by people of his Institute- which was a lot because he had to deal with Jace and Isabelle, who didn’t like to listen to the rules.

Alec was exhausted.

-

“When can I see Alec?” Madzie asked, for probably the tenth time that day.

Magnus was in his apothecary, working on a potion for a client. Luckily, it was a potion that took a long time to make, and so Magnus turned to face Madzie. If he was making another potion, he might not have been able to talk to her. There were certain potions, that if you left them alone for any longer than 10 seconds, would explode. That, or they would look alright but have a completely different effect than the intended effect. Magnus had decided to leave those potions for when Madzie was asleep, after one fateful incident involving said warlock girl, one of his potions, a fire, and his favourite waistcoat.

He sighed when he realised what Madzie had asked. Alec. It was all Madzie would talk about, for the past few days. She had been staying with Magnus for about a week now, and while the first few days had been okay, Madzie had started asking about Alec halfway through the week. Magnus was almost regretting taking the girl away from Alec.  _ Almost _ . She absolutely loved the shadowhunter, and always talked about ‘Alec this’ or ‘Alec that’. Magnus was starting to like the shadowhunter a little, and he only knew him from Madzie’s stories and his brief experiences with the shadowhunter for official business (and the meeting at the Institute when they had talked about Madzie, but Magnus was ignoring that because he was  _ slightly  _ embarrassed about his behaviour). 

“Why do you want Alec?” Magnus asked.

“Because Alec is the best!” Madzie answered, pouting slightly at Magnus in a way that made him want to give her everything and anything she asked for, “Alec makes me pancakes. And you said I would sleepover at your house but sleepovers aren’t this long. Are you lying to me? Alec said that sometimes shadowhunter’s are in danger and get hurt. That’s because they fight demons and demons are bad. Is Alec hurt?”

She said all of this quickly, almost in one breath. Magnus didn’t have the time to understand what the little girl was saying, let alone find an answer in time, before she fired off another question. When she was finally finished she took a deep breath, and Magnus waited a few moments to be sure she wouldn’t start talking again, before answering.

“I suppose we can go see Alec…” He said slowly, and reluctantly. He didn’t want to see Alec, for many reasons. First of all, he may have heard good things from Madzie, but Alec Lightwood was a shadowhunter, and Maryse Lightwood’s son. Magnus did not trust Maryse Lightwood to raise a kid who was actually a good person. Second of all, he was embarrassed that he had used his magic on Alec, and in front of a room of shadowhunters no less. He would usually have liked to say he was a better person than that, but apparently he was no better than the shadowhunters who attacked Downworlders for no reason. Third, he was worried Alec would still be mad at him, and he was afraid Alec might take his anger at Magnus out on Madzie. The little girl absolutely  _ adored  _ Alec and didn’t deserve to have Alec treat her differently because of Magnus. Last, but definitely not least, Alec was very attractive. He was exactly Magnus’s type, and if he hadn’t been a shadowhunter, Magnus probably would have tried to date him.

But if Madzie wanted to see Alec, he would try to ignore the screaming inside his mind telling him it was a bad idea. The little warlock hadn’t stopped talking about Alec for the last week, and Magnus was afraid if he didn’t bring Madzie to see Alec, the girl would try to do it herself. 

“Really?” Madzie asked, her face completely lighting up. It made Magnus internally sigh. Whatever Alec had done to charm the warlock girl, it had worked. He only hoped it wasn’t a trick.

Alec had said he wanted Madzie, but to Magnus, that didn’t mean anything. He had seen a lot throughout his centuries of living, and he knew that just because someone said they wanted a kid, it didn’t mean they would actually treat the kid well. Many mundanes adopted and fostered kids, and they ended up hurting and abusing those kids, whether it be emotionally or physically. Oftentimes, parents whose children turned out to be warlocks, kicked their kids out of their home, or tried to kill them. A parent's love was supposed to be unconditional. But it wasn’t, and Magnus knew that from personal experience. If even a parent's love was conditional, why should he trust a shadowhunter when he said he wanted to help a warlock child?

Madzie ran up to Magnus, practically bouncing. Magnus used his magic to push the potion away and out of the reach of the little warlock girl. Madzie hugged his legs as she jumped up and down, looking up at him with her big brown eyes. Magnus grabbed the girl into his arms and walked out of the apothecary, not at all prepared for what he was about to do.

He created a portal to the Institute, and before he could change his mind, he stepped through it. He stepped out of the portal on the Institute grounds, just before the wards. He was the one who had created the wards, and he could easily have passed through them, but he didn’t want to surprise the shadowhunters who probably already hated him. If he did surprise them, they would probably attack him, and though it wouldn’t be hard for him to defeat a few shadowhunters, he had Madzie with him.

He walked towards the Institute, but was stopped a few steps before the doors, by a group of shadowhunters running out of the Institute, led by Isabelle Lightwood. Alec Lightwood’s sister looked like a female version of him, beautiful with long dark hair. But unlike Alec, she was confident. He had seen her a few times at Downworlder clubs, and he had heard rumours that she was dating a seelie.

She held her whip in her hands like someone would hold a child, carefully and gently. Of course, the whip could kill people with a single motion of the shadowhunters wrist, which made it much more dangerous than a baby.

“What are you doing here?” She said, walking closer to Magnus. She stopped when she was just close enough so they could talk, but far enough for the other shadowhunters to be able to help her if Magnus attacked. 

“I may have misjudged Alec Lightwood,” He said, adjusting Madzie on his hip and directing Isabelle’s attention to the little girl, “For reasons I don’t understand, Madzie really liked your brother. So I’m going to let her see him. Not for him, because I could care less about you shadowhunters, but because Madzie wants it. This doesn’t mean I trust any of you.”

A small smile flashed on Isabelle’s lips, so fast Magnus almost thought he was seeing things. He blinked, and the smile was gone, replaced by a cold, neutral, calculating expression. The shadowhunter looked at Magnus up and down, and when Magnus though for sure she would refuse and was ready to leave, she nodded slowly.

“Fine,” She said, “And for the record, I don’t trust you either.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I've said before, this is not beta read, and English isn't my first language. I also got a lot of comments on my last chapter saying Magnus and Alec wouldn't have done that so I want to clarify a few things.
> 
> 1\. Magnus did react badly, but he's a Downworlder who has hundreds of years of bad experiences with shadowhunters. He has a reason to be suspicious. In this story, Magnus doesn't know Alec yet, and doesn't know if Alec is a good person or not. Magnus doesn't know if Alec wants Madzie for bad reasons, like how Valentine took Madzie to use her magic. 
> 
> 2\. Alec can't do anything against Magnus because it would prove Magnus's point and be seen as an abuse of power by all the Downwordlers. Yes, Magnus shouldn't have used his magic, but in his mind he had no choice.
> 
> I also need to repeat: They don't know each other in this story. So yes they are acting a little different than in canon, because in canon they know each other. In canon, Magnus knows Alec wouldn't do anything bad to Madzie. This Magnus doesn't know that.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter features: Madzie being cute, Malec starting to get closer, and Magnus and Ragnor talking.

Three weeks had passed since the first time Magnus had taken Madzie away.

Magnus had returned to the Institute a few days later with Madzie, who had been begging to see Alec. Magnus and Alec had come to an understanding, and Magnus had (although very reluctantly) agreed to let Madzie spend more time with Alec. Alec didn’t get to see Madzie all the time, and the little girl still slept and spent most of her time at Magnus’s loft, but Alec thought it was a good start. 

Another part of their agreement was that Magnus would only let Alec see Madzie if Magnus was also there, that way he could keep an eye on the shadowhunter. Alec had easily agreed. He understood Magnus’s concerns and he was just as protective of Madzie as Magnus was. They wanted the same thing, and that was to make sure Madzie was happy. So although the two of them didn’t fully trust each other, they made sure to be civil in front of Madzie. They had even gotten to the point where they were almost friendly, but they were certainly not friends. Alec saw how much Madzie loved the older warlock, and he would never do anything to hurt Madzie or make her upset, which meant spending time with Magnus outside of their jobs.

If Alec was being honest with himself, he had started to develop a bit of a crush on Magnus. He was extremely beautiful, with his golden skin and dark hair perfectly gelled and styled. He somehow managed to look good in the most eccentric makeup and outfits. Alec wished he had Magnus’s confidence, he wished he could be himself without worrying about the opinions of others. But Magnus wasn’t just beautiful. Alec had seen the warlock with Madzie, and he was caring, kind, and funny. There were times when Magnus seemed to forget Alec was a shadowhunter, and he would joke and laugh with Alec. There were times when they would be alone, Madzie off playing in another room, and they would talk about random topics. They would get along, if only for a few minutes. Those were Alec’s favourite moments. But then the warlock would grow cold again, and it was like all of their progress had been deleted.

At the end of the day, Magnus would always take Madzie away. At first, it had angered and upset Alec. He was being given Madzie, he was allowed to play and talk with the little girl, and then she was ripped away from him. But now he had gotten used to it, and all he felt when she left was resigned and sad.

Magnus had started to trust Alec more with Madzie, and had started to ask Alec to watch Madzie without him around. It was rare and had only just started. Magnus had called Alec earlier in the day, asking if Alec could watch Madzie for the night, since he had complicated potions to make for some of his clients. Of course, Alec had said yes.

Sometimes it felt like he and Magnus were a divorced couple sharing custody of Madzie. Of course if Alec married Magnus he would never get a divorce.

“Alec!” Madzie called out, interrupting his thoughts (which Alec was very thankful for, they were heading in a very bad _ ,  _ very inappropriate direction), “Can you play with me?”

“Of course princess,” Alec said, following the little girl when she led him into her room.

Even after Madzie had stopped staying at Alec’s house, he hadn’t had the heart to take her furniture, toys, and clothes out of the room. The two of them had only just started organising Madzie’s room when she had left, so it wasn’t yet finished and was still a little bare. They had added a few decorations here and there, adding a purple bean bag chair in one of the corners of her room and a giant dollhouse that she absolutely  _ did not _ need but Alec couldn’t help spoiling her. Madzie still considered the room her’s, which made Alec happy. Whenever she would be over at Alec’s apartment she would spend most of her time either in the living room or in her room.

“Here!” Madzie said, shoving a toy bear into Alec’s hand.

Alec smiled and took the toy from the girl. Alec sat on the floor of the room as Madzie took out more toys. They started playing a complicated game with too many toys and stuffed animals. Madzie had named them all, and Alec could not remember them all no matter how much he tried. Whenever he would mess up one of the names, Madzie would giggle and shake her head before correcting him. It was adorable.

-

Magnus was working on a potion for an especially picky client when his phone started ringing. He moved gracefully around the potion, careful not to touch anything since there were many toxic ingredients in the potion and he did not want to deal with that. He picked up his phone and rolled his eyes at the name on the screen.  _ ‘Ragnor Fell’ _ . That irritation was quickly replaced with fear because Ragnor never called Magnus. Ragnor was an old grump who didn’t talk to anyone unless he was forced, so to have him call Magnus meant one of two things. One, Magnus had forgotten and today was an important date, or two, he was in extreme danger, injured, and/or dying.

“Ragnor? Is something wrong?” Magnus asked the moment he answered the phone.

“Why must you assume something is wrong?” Ragnor asked, and Magnus could practically  _ hear  _ the eye-roll. “Could it not be that I simply wanted to talk to my oldest friend.”

“No,” Magnus answered dryly.

Ragnor was Magnus’s oldest friend, and probably his closest friend. He loved Catarina, but Ragnor had experienced more of Magnus’s adventures. They knew each other so well, they often didn't have to talk to communicate. Magnus knew when Ragnor was being dramatic and grumpy, and when he was genuinely upset about something. Magnus knew when to push Ragnor into going out and having fun, and when to stay quiet. Ragnor knew when Magnus was being his eccentric self, and he knew when Magnus was drowning himself in alcohol to get over a heartbreak. He knew exactly when to stop Magnus from making dumb decisions and when to watch from the sidelines as Magnus made his own mistakes and learned from them. But they were also warlocks, which meant though they were very close, they didn’t see each other often. There would be times where they didn’t talk to each other for fifty years. Magnus had just talked to Ragnor less than a month ago, so it was more than a little strange for him to contact Magnus so soon. But he didn’t sound injured or dead, so that was a good sign.

“I’m just warning you in advance, I’m making a portal into your living room,” Ragnor said, and not a moment later Magnus felt a tug on the wards. He loosened them to let Ragnor through and then closed them again.

“Hello Magnus,” Ragnor said, walking into Magnus’s apothecary. He looked around the room and at the mess of ingredients. “Is it a bad time?”

“Never for you my cabbage,” Magnus said, waving his arm to place the ingredients back in their rightful places and to place a spell on the potion to stop it from going bad while he talked. Potions ranged from very simple to very complicated, and this potion was very specific. It required an exact amount of time between the ingredients, so Magnus had to be careful.

“Where’s the little warlock girl you adopted?” Ragnor asked, looking around as if he expected Madzie to jump out at him at any moment.

“She’s not here,” Magnus said, “She’s staying with Alec for the night while I catch up on potions. I’ve been avoiding this one because of how tedious the process is to make it.”

“She’s with the shadowhunter?” Ragnor asked, “The one you said you would, and I quote, “Never let near a warlock because he’s a Lightwood, Ragnor!”? That shadowhunter?” 

“Yes,” Magnus said, sighing, “He’s not like all the other Lightwoods I’ve met. I think you’d like him, actually. He’s nice and he’s good with Madzie. And ever since he took over the New York Institute he’s been determined to make better relationships with Downworlders. He’s actually a good person! You should see him too. I told myself I’d never fall for a shadowhunter but it’s so hard not to like Alexander.”

Magnus walked out of his apothecary as he talked, Ragnor following behind him as he collapsed onto his couch. He magicked a drink into his hand and waved his hand to create a tea tray for Ragnor. Ragnor was a British stereotype, and drank tea much too often, even for Magnus who did like tea.

“You’re falling for him,” Ragnor said slowly, “This is hilarious.”

Ragnor laughed, truly  _ laughed _ . Ragnor was always grumpy and here he was, laughing at Magnus’s expense. But because Magnus was a good friend, he let Ragnor laugh and waited until his friend had finished his fit of hysterics. Ragnor took some of the tea Magnus had conjured and took a slow sip, observing Magnus. Magnus simply closed his eyes and drank the rest of his martini, refilling the glass when it was empty. He didn’t want to see Ragnor’s face at that moment. It could be one of two faces; his expression of pity or his expression of ‘oh Magnus you’ve messed up but I find this hilarious so I’ll watch from the background as you make a complete and utter fool of yourself’.

“Why are you here?” Magnus asked, “And don’t tell me it’s because you wanted to see me.”

“It wasn’t,” Ragnor admitted, “Some vampires said they saw you and the Lightwood walking in the streets together. They claimed you had the little warlock girl, Madzie, with you and you bought her ice cream. There have been rumours that the two of you are in a secret relationship. The theories are quite dramatic, actually. Some are so dramatic that they actually sound like something you’d do.”

Magnus laughed humourlessly.

“We’re not in a relationship. Nor will we ever be.”

-

Alec finished setting up the pillows and blankets for the blanket fort as Madzie looked through the movie options for something she wanted to watch. Madzie had wanted to watch a movie, and she had mentioned wanting a blanket fort, so Alec had decided to make her one. Apparently the little warlock had made one with Magnus and had loved it. Alec wasn’t the best at making blanket forts, as he didn’t have much experience making them, but it turned out alright. Magnus’s fort had probably been better, but Magnus could also use his magic to make it, which was an unfair advantage.

“Did you find a movie you want to watch?” Alec asked.

“The Lion King!” Madzie said. She bounded happily to Alec and settled in the pillow fort, bundling herself up in blankets as Alec started the movie. 

“Do you want popcorn?” He asked Madzie, who nodded in reply.

He went to the kitchen to get popcorn when Madzie got up from her bundle of blankets, almost tripping when they got caught around her feet. She continued as though nothing had happened and walked into the kitchen with Alec. Alec continued to the kitchen, this time with the little warlock a few steps behind him. He was about to put the popcorn in the microwave to pop it when Madzie tugged on his pant leg.

“Can I do it?” She asked.

Alec handed her the bag, expecting her to ask him to carry her so that she could reach the microwave, but she didn’t. Instead he watched as Madzie opened the bag and, with a deep look of concentration on her face, she waved her hand, and magic circled the bag of popcorn. Alec could hear the sound of popcorn popping and he watched as Madzie’s face lit up. She continued to stare down at the popcorn in intense concentration until it was all popped, and then she handed the bag to Alec with a proud look on her face.

“Good job Madzie,” He said.

She smiled and took his arm in her small hands, pulling him back to their pillow fort as she babbled excitedly.

“Magnus taught me how to do it!” She said, “He’s teaching me new tricks to do with my magic. He says I’m really good for my age! He says I’m very advanced and smart! I like popcorn. I like being able to make my own popcorn. One day I’ll be as good as Magnus at magic. Then I’ll be able to just make popcorn appear! I won’t even need to have the popcorn seeds!”

“Oh really?” Alec asked, “Well that means you’ll have to train a lot. Can you do that?”

“Yes!” Madzie said happily.

They settled in the blanket fort with the movie playing on the TV. Madzie stayed quiet for most of the movie, content to just eat her popcorn, though she did make comments every now and then. By the end of the movie, Alec noticed Madzie hadn’t made a comment in quite a while, and when he looked over at the little girl to check on her, he saw she was fast asleep. She was tangled in the blankets, her head resting against one of the pillows and one hand still deep in the bag of popcorn. Alec chuckled lightly and took out his phone to take a picture of the sleeping warlock to send to Magnus. 

Alec untangled the blankets around Madzie and easily scooped the little sleeping girl in his arms. She was so light and small, and she looked so fragile pressed against Alec. He carried her to her bedroom, placing her down on her bed. Alec covered Madzie with her princess comforter, tucking her into bed as gently and quietly as he could to make sure he didn’t accidentally wake her. He pressed a soft kiss to Madzie’s curls before leaving her bedroom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is once again a shorter chapter. Sorry. The plot is advancing though, which means soon there will be Malec. Like always, I'm sorry for any grammar mistakes.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The plot advances.

Magnus was getting busier and busier. The Downworld was in a state of panic, because of all the Valentine stuff going on. That meant that Magnus, as High Warlock of Brooklyn, was extremely busy. Which also meant Magnus had less time to spend with Madzie. It would have been really bad, had it not been for Alec, who offered to watch Madzie whenever Magnus needed it. It had gotten to the point where Alec was watching Madzie more often than Magnus was. It made no sense to Magnus, why Alec seemed to have all the time in the world to watch Madzie when he was the Head of the New York Institute and was just as involved in all the Valentine problems as Magnus himself was, if not more. But he had never said no when Magnus asked him to babysit the girl. Magnus had had to call Alec at very awkward times, often late at night or early in the morning. In those moments, when Magnus was tired and annoyed at having to help with yet another problem, Alec felt like a blessing.

For example, now, as Magnus got a call from Luke about a young warlock (young in warlock terms, about 30 or 40). Luke would have dealt with it, to help Magnus, but the warlock was technically Magnus’s problem. He didn’t want to call Alec, since it was the middle of the day and Magnus was sure Alec was at the Institute, but Catarina was busy. He had even played with the idea of calling Ragnor, but decided against it at the last minute. He would have to profusely apologize to Alec about this later, but right now he had to do his High Warlock duties.

The second he ended his phone call with Luke and made his decision, he flicked through his contacts and called Alec. He had had Alec’s contact for a long time, since they were both leaders and therefore they had to be able to contact each other if and when there were problems involving both the Shadowhunters and the Downworlders, but he had never used it as often as he found himself using it now. They talked over the phone at least three times a week, and even more often in person. Sometimes Magnus went to see Alec for no reason other than to enjoy his company, though he would never admit that to anyone but himself and always used Madzie as an excuse to see the other man.

“Alexander,” He greeted when Alec answered the call, “I hate to bother you but I need someone to watch Madzie for a while. It won't be any longer than an hour or two, I promise.”

Alec sighed over the tinny speaker of the phone, “What’s one more child to deal with?” He mumbled, though it seemed more like he was speaking to himself than to Magnus.

“Alexander, are you alright?” Magnus asked, trying to keep the worry out of his voice. It wouldn’t do any good to show the shadowhunter that Magnus was genuinely starting to care about him. Alec was different, he was kind and good, but that didn’t mean he felt anything for Magnus. Magnus was comfortable enough with himself and his sexuality to admit he had a crush on Alec Lightwood, but that didn’t mean he didn’t know when something was hopeless. Being with Alec was impossible. Shadowhunters, no matter how nice and compassionate, didn’t date Downworlders. Not even Shadowhunters who were also helping Magnus take care of a warlock child.

“I’m fine, don’t worry about me,” Alec said, “And to answer your question, yes I’ll watch Madzie. I always have time for Madzie, you know that.”

“Thank you,” Magnus breathed out in relief.

“I’ll see you in two minutes?” Alec asked.

“Let me just get Madzie and open a portal,” Magnus said, “Thank you again, Alexander.”

“It’s not a problem.”

They quickly say their goodbyes -though it’s not really goodbye if you’re going to see each other again in less than five minutes- and Magnus goes to get 

Madzie. He helps her pack a bag with a few of her favourite toys and in no time he has a portal open to the Institute and is stepping through into Alec’s office. Magnus had gotten permission from Alec to portal directly into his office, since it was tiring for the both of them when Magnus portaled outside the Institute. The shadowhunters would notice a Downworlder near the wards -the wards  _ Magnus  _ had made- and would storm out, ready to attack. Then, Alec would have to come outside, calm everyone down and tell them that  _ ‘No, Magnus isn’t a threat’  _ and  _ ‘Yes, Magnus and Madzie are allowed to be here’.  _ It was a long process, and one neither of them had the time for. So now Magnus simply portaled into Alec’s office, talked a bit to Alec, dropped Madzie off, and then left.

Magnus portaled into Alec’s office with Madzie, smiling at himself when Alec didn’t even flinch at their entrance. It was nice to see a shadowhunter so comfortable with Magnus’s displays of magic. It was good for Madzie, who liked to show off the new tricks Magnus taught her. Alec always smiled at her and praised her, unlike most shadowhunters who would be appalled at a warlock using her magic so comfortably around a shadowhunter and not doing something quote-unquote ‘useful’ with it. And by useful, Magnus meant when warlocks were not using their magic to do a shadowhunters bidding.

“Hey Madzie. Hello Magnus.” Alec said, catching Madzie as she barreled into his arms and nodding at Magnus over Madzie’s head of curls.

“Are you sure you’re alright at watching her?” Magnus asked again, “I only ask because you sounded... stressed, on the phone.”

“Madzie will make me feel better, right Madzie?” Alec directed the last part at the little warlock still clinging to his legs, who nodded enthusiastically.

“I can make you another drawing!” Madzie said as she bounced over to Magnus and took her bag out of Magnus’s hands. She rummaged in the bags until she took out a sketchbook and some crayons. “Alec always loved my drawings because he says I’m really good at colouring! Look, he has all my pictures on his walls because they’re the best pictures he’s ever seen!”

Madzie pointed up at the wall above Alec’s desk. It was lined with a dozen different drawings made by Madzie. They were hung proudly, where any shadowhunter who came into Alec’s office would be able to see. Magnus felt another rush of affection for the shadowhunter who didn’t care what anyone said, and cared only about making Madzie happy.

“I should really get going,” Magnus said when he realised he had been in Alec’s office with Madzie for much too long, and Luke was still waiting for him with the rogue warlock. He pressed a quick kiss to Madzie’s head. “Have fun sweetpea.”

-

What was supposed to be a simple problem with a simple fix, had spiraled out of control. Magnus had finished dealing with the rogue warlock quite quickly. The warlock had been doing some bad things, working with some of Valentine’s men and hurting one of the werewolves in Luke's pack. He was young, and inexperienced, and his warlock mark hadn’t even been in during the first Uprising, so he didn’t know how bad Valentine was. But that wasn’t the problem, no that had been dealt with quite quickly. The problem was when Magnus had been about to go pick up Madzie, but he had gotten another call, and then another. The Downworld was a mess, there was no other way to explain. It was now well past three in the morning, and Madzie was sleeping over at Alec’s apartment.

There was nothing Magnus wanted to do more than sleep, so he decided he would go back to his loft, sleep, and he would apologize to Alec the next morning. 

When he woke up the next morning he got ready quite quickly by his standards, and was ready by 10:00. He knew Alec would already be awake and at the Institute, since Alec woke up extremely early. It was something Magnus would never understand. He had lived for centuries and had never liked to wake up early. He was immortal and had forever ahead of him, why not enjoy it and sleep in? He prefered the evening, when the clubs and bars were open, not that he had been to any clubs recently. With taking care of Madzie and taking care of the other Downworlders under his care, Magnus hadn’t had time to have fun.

Magnus quickly texted Alec, simply warning him that he would be portalling into his office and not to worry. After sending the message and waiting about a minute to make sure Alec got the message, Magnus created a portal. His phone buzzed, and he looked down at the screen to see that Alec had sent him a simple, ‘okay’.

He stepped through his portal into Alec’s office, and almost melted at the sight that greeted him. Madzie was lying down on Alec’s lap as they both sat on the floor. Madzie was in a purple dress and white tights. There was a purple scarf the same colour as her dress lying on the ground beside her. She had a doll in her hands but her eyes were closed. Alec’s head was bent down as he looked at Madzie with a soft look on his face. He looked like a father looking down at his daughter. The two of them looked nothing alike, but when they were together all of that seemed to go away. They had the father-daughter chemistry, the kind that made strangers on the street think Alec was Madzie’s father.

“She fell asleep.” Alec said, at last, looking up at Magnus. Magnus hadn’t thought Alec had noticed him coming in, he was so concentrated on Madzie.

“I can see that,” Magnus said, “I can take her now if you’d like?”

Alec shook his head, “It’s alright.” He said. He used his muscular shadowhunter arms to gently pick Madzie up off his lap, holding her in his arms. He stood up gracefully and shited Madzie so she was in his arms with her head on his shoulder.

“I’m sorry,” Magnus blurted out, “About leaving Madzie with you yesterday, I mean.” He clarified when Alec raised an eyebrow at him. Magnus couldn’t get himself to take Alec seriously when he had a sleeping warlock in his arms. “You didn’t have to watch her, you don’t even have to watch her. I’m sure you’re just as busy as I am, but you never refuse. I wouldn’t be offended if you said no every once in a while.” 

“I like Madzie,” Alec said, shrugging as much as he could without moving Madzie too much, “I'll watch her whenever you need me to.”

“But you don’t have to!” Magnus protested, not entirely sure why he was protesting Alec babysitting Madzie. It was very helpful for Magnus, and Madzie loved it, so if Alec wanted to watch her, why not?

“I want to!” Alec said back.

Magnus looked from Alec to Madzie. He looked at Alec, a proud shadowhunter, a Lightwood, with Madzie in his arms. He looked at Madzie, a young warlock who had gone through so much, a warlock who was comfortable enough with Alec to show him her magic and to have her warlock mark out around him. He thought about Alec, when he had first met Alec, and about how he had taken Madzie away from him. They didn’t talk about it much, but Magnus knew how much it had upset Alec. He felt awful about it now that he knew Alec better. He knew now that Alec was nothing but good, would have been a perfect parent for Madzie. He thought about Madzie, and about how excited she was when he told her Alec would be babysitting her, even if it was just for a few hours. He hadn’t even seen Madzie this happy around Catarina. Madzie had loved Catarina, it was impossible not to like Catarina, but she was like a completely different person around Alec. Madzie was quiet around everyone, but around Alec she was loud and outgoing, like a child  _ should  _ be. It was then that Magnus made his split-second decision, but he knew even then that he wouldn’t regret it.

“Do you want to keep Madzie?” Magnus asked, “Do you want to keep her for a little while? Before I… took her from you, you were planning on keeping her, weren't you? It’s just that Madzie loves you, and I’m always busy, I’m not going to be around enough to give her the care she deserves. There will be some things we have to discuss, like what we're going to do for Madzie’s training, but that’s what I’m here for. I can train her to use her magic, that way I can also see how she’s doing. And there might be some problems with both the Downworld and Shadowhunter community, since they don’t really trust the shadowhunters right now, but I’m sure we can work through it. We can meet once a week, that way I can see how Madzie’s doing with you? If that’s alright?”

Magnus knew he was rambling, but Alec was standing completely still and he couldn’t help but panic and think maybe he had misread the entire situation. So he, Magnus Bane, the confident and coy warlock, kept rambling on. It was completely unlike him, but both Alec and Madzie were different and special to him. It made him nervous. But then he saw Alec’s eyes flicker down at Madzie sleeping peacefully in his arms, and he started to smile.

“Yes.” 

That was all Alec said, that one word. That one word stopped Magnus’s rambling. It was a simple word, and yet it held so much power. Alec would be taking Madzie, and though Magnus wouldn't let Alec keep Madzie permanently yet, he couldn't say he didn't like the idea of seeing how Alec would do as a parent. Of course, this would only happen if Madzie wanted it, but there was no doubt in Magnus’s mind that she would, she absolutely adored Alec.

“Yes?” Magnus repeated in slight shock, “Okay then. Good.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I know this is moving a little fast. Yes, I know the characters might be a little OOC. But this is a fanfic and I'm not a professional writer. I'm sorry for any grammar mistakes I made and I hope you continue to enjoy and read my fanfic.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alec and Magnus start to get closer, Downworlders love Alec (at least most of them do), and Madzie is cute as usual.

The day had started off like any other.

Alec had woken up and gotten dressed before making breakfast for him and Madzie. When he had finished making breakfast, he had gone to wake up Madzie. They had then eaten together, Madzie doing most of the talking since she had way too much energy in the mornings. After they had eaten, Madzie had gone to get dressed, taking, in Alec’s opinion, much too long to pick out a suitable outfit for the day. She had started picking her clothing more carefully after her time with Magnus, apparently the older warlock had taught her a lot about fashion while they had been together. Eventually, though, Madzie had finished getting dressed, and then the two of them had gone to the Institute. Madzie had played in Alec’s office while he worked, and during Alec’s lunch break they went to get lunch at a small cafe a few blocks away. 

After lunch, Alec had brought Madzie to the warlock daycare. The warlock daycare was owned by one of Magnus’s old friends. Magnus had told Alec about the daycare a week ago, after the two of them had spent an hour talking about how busy they were. Alec didn’t understand why Magnus hadn’t mentioned the daycare before then, since it could have solved many problems, but he supposed Magnus had just forgotten. Either way, Alec now knew about the daycare, and he utilised it. Every day after lunch he would bring Madzie to the daycare before going back to the Institute to finish his work for the day. It was much easier to work without Madzie around, since he often got distracted by the little girl, but that didn’t mean Alec didn’t miss her when she wasn’t around.

Of course, that was when his day had started going badly.

It had started when Alec got to the daycare, planning to simply drop off Madzie and head back to the Institute, like he had done every day for the past week. That was not, however, what had happened.

_ “Have fun princess,” Alec said to Madzie when they reached the beautiful house that doubled as a warlock daycare. _

_ Alec had let go of Madzie’s hand before leaning down to press a gentle kiss to the girl's forehead, making her giggle and smile. Madzie tugged on his sleeve, a motion that Alec knew by now to mean that Madzie wanted him to bend down to her level so she could talk to him. He bent down as the little girl asked him to do, and Madzie hugged him tightly. _

_ “You’ll come back right?” She asked nervously, the same question she had asked every day before he dropped her off. _

_ It broke Alec’s heart that Madzie still thought Alec would leave her. It wasn’t Alec’s fault, he knew that, he hadn’t been the one to leave Madzie and hurt her and there was nothing he could have done to have stopped it from happening in the first place. The only thing he could do now was care for Madzie, and try to teach her that she was loved, and that he would never leave her. It wasn’t Madzie’s fault either, and she didn’t deserve to see how upset her words made Alec, so he made sure to always hide his reaction when she asked the question. Instead he would smile down at the girl and hug her back just as tightly. _

_ “Of course I’ll come back,” Alec said, and that was the only thing he could do to comfort Madzie. He just had to hope Madzie believed his words. “I would never leave you here Madzie. I’ll finish my work and then come back. You go have fun with your friends, okay?” _

_ “Okay,” Madzie said happily, her emotions switching so fast it almost gave Alec whiplash. She went from sad to happy in the innocent way only children could. _

_ “Okay,” He whispered softly, more to himself than to Madzie, who had already started to skip away, making her way to two other warlocks who were happily playing with a ball.  _

_ One of them was a dark-haired boy with reptilian scales running down the length of his arms and the other was a purple-skinned girl with long, pure white hair. They were using their magic to pass the ball back and forth. When the girl saw Madzie, she smiled and used her magic to direct the ball to Madzie. Madzie joined the two warlocks in their game, and Alec couldn’t help smiling at the sight. He was glad Madzie had made friends, she was such a shy girl, and it had worried him. He had been nervous about Madzie going to the daycare, but Magnus had reassured her that she would be perfectly fine, and he had been right. Madzie adored going to daycare. She loved being around other young warlocks, warlocks she could play with and use her magic with. _

_ When Alec stood up to his full height, ready to go back to the Institute, he spotted the woman who owned the daycare, Wendy Hill. She was standing in the shade of a tree, watching him with a deep frown on her face.  _

_ Alec had walked up to her. When Wendy had seen him approaching him, she only frowned harder. She straightened up from where she had been leaning casually against the tree. She had to look up to look Alec in the eyes, since Alec was extremely tall. Her face went neutral as he approached, but he could see the glint in her eyes as she looked him up and down, her eyes stopping on the Deflect rune on his neck. She didn’t like him, at all. _

_ “Alec Lightwood.” She said, her tone ever so neutral. _

_ “Is Madzie doing well?” Alec asked. He decided Madzie was a good conversation topic, one they could both agree on. Other conversation topics would ultimately lead back to them talking about Shadowhunters and Downworlders and, most likely, Valentine. Madzie was a nice and neutral conversation topic, one that he knew Wendy wouldn’t be able to find something to yell at him about. He had met many warlocks recently, because of the time he was spending with Madzie and Magnus, and most had not been happy with the shadowhunters. _

_ “Why would you care?” Wendy said. Her voice was, oddly enough, not rude. She was genuinely curious about Alec’s answer. _

_ “I want Madzie to be happy,” He said genuinely, since it was both the real answer and the answer that Wendy would probably like the most, “She’s very shy. You can’t blame her, after everything she’s been through. I was worried she would have a hard time making friends, but she loved it here. You’ve done a good job making a happy environment for these kids.” _

_ “I try,” Wendy said, short and curt, though Alec could see Wendy was trying to hide a pleased smile at his words. _

_ They stood in an oddly comfortable silence, watching the warlock kids play without a care in the world. Madzie had stopped playing with the scaled boy and the purple-skinned girl, and had moved to sit down next to a little girl no older than two, with bright blue hair. Alec wondered about the little girl. She was so young, and she was already here. Alec knew why most warlocks were with Wendy. When warlocks got kicked out of their homes they would either live on their own or get taken in by another warlock. Wendy took care of warlocks who had been kicked out of their homes from being who they were. Madzie hadn’t gone to Wendy because the shadowhunters didn’t know the warlock daycare existed, and so they hadn’t been able to bring Madzie there. He was glad now, that they hadn’t, because he might never have gotten Madzie if they had originally given her to Wendy. He couldn’t imagine his life now without Madzie, didn’t want to imagine it.  _

_ “I should get going,” Alec said. _

_ “Alec,” Wendy said when Alec turned to leave, making him turn back around to look at her, “Thank you for taking care of Madzie. She loves you.” _

_ Alec smiled genuinely at Wendy before walking away. _

That was not the last time Alec talked to Wendy during the day. The two didn’t talk often, mostly only talking when Wendy had to tell him about something Madzie did or when they said casual “hellos” to each other when Alec dropped Madzie off at Wendy’s daycare. He would have been happy had he not heard from Wendy for the rest of the day. But apparently he had the worst luck in the world, because he got a call not two hours later. 

_ “Alec?” Wendy asked over the tinny phone speaker, her voice panicked and stressed. _

_ That, of course, immediately made Alec tense. He couldn’t help thinking about Madzie. Did something happen to his little girl? There was no other reason Wendy would call him. They weren’t friends, barely acquaintances. Wendy didn’t exactly love Alec, she didn’t like the idea of a shadowhunter knowing about her warlock daycare. So the fact that she called him, in the middle of the day, while Madzie was with her, immediately put Alec on edge. The only reason Wendy had his phone number was since he and Magnus were Madzie’s emergency contacts. _

_ “What’s going on?” He asked, trying not to let his worry show, “Is Madzie okay?” _

_ “Madzie’s alright.” She answered, “But we need you to come and pick her up. One of the children ran away. We already have people out searching for him, but in the meantime we need all the other children to go home. We can’t have anyone else decide to run away too.” _

_ “I’m on my way,” Alec said. He stood up from his desk and didn't even bother to clean up his papers. He just walked out of his office and out of the Institute, still on the phone with the warlock. As he walked out, a few shadowhunters tried to talk to him, but they left him alone once they saw the expression on his face. He was glad, he didn’t think he would be able to handle dealing with any more ridiculous problems at the moment. _

_ “I’m sorry to bother you,” Wendy said. _

_ “It’s fine, I’ll be there soon.” _

Alec had practically run to the daycare. When he had gotten there, he found all the children sitting around the very big front yard of the house, looking panicked. A few of the children, mostly the younger ones, had been crying. He had looked around the yard for Madzie, and had found her almost immediately, but she hadn’t been alone. She had been talking to Magnus, who looked just as good as he always did, dressed in tight red leather pants and a black shirt that was just as tight. He had a long black blazer with embroidered roses over his shirt and a few necklaces looped around his neck. Not one of his more eccentric outfits, but beautiful nonetheless.

Alec had gone up to talk to Magnus, which was how he ended up where he was now, fighting off three Dahak demons while Magnus tried to heal the little warlock boy who had run away from the daycare. 

Wendy had called Magnus, asking for his help in tracking the boy. Magnus, when he had seen Alec, had asked if Alec could help him. Magnus could track the boy on his own, and he could probably bring him back safely, but there was nothing wrong with having a little backup. Alec had agreed, and had left Madzie with Wendy while he went to help Magnus find the young warlock boy.

Alec took out a seraph blade and started to attack the three demons. He kept switching between the three, and he could have easily killed them if he had time to focus on them one at a time, but he had to make sure Magnus and the little boy were safe. It would have been much easier to fight if Jace was there, or even if Magnus was helping him, but he had to fight alone. The group of demons had originally had six demons, and he had killed the first three using his bow, but the demons were too close to him now, so he had had to switch to using a seraph blade. He stabbed the nearest demon in the eye, and when it shook its bulbous head in shock, he stabbed it in its stomach, effectively killing the demon. That left him with only two demons to fight. He twisted and slashed at the demons as they continued to fight.

Suddenly blue magic hit one of the demons, killing it on impact. Alec glanced at Magnus from the corner of his eye. He was still leaning over the warlock boy, who had injured his leg and couldn’t walk. With only one demon left, Alec easily killed it.

When all the demons were dead, Alec hurried over to the two warlocks. Magnus had healed the boy's leg, but he still wasn't standing. He was staring at Alec in fear as Alec walked towards him. Alec stopped before he reached the boy, not wanting to scare the child, and crouched down so he was at the same height as the warlock child. 

He looked to be about ten years old, maybe a little older or maybe a little younger. He was thin, and the way he was pressed against the wall made him look even smaller and younger. The boy had tanned skin and curly dark brown hair. His eyes were a dark green and filled with nervousness as his gaze flickered from Alec to the runes on Alec’s skin. The boy was glamoured now, but Alec had seen his glamour flicker and had seen the boys green skin.

“Are you okay?” Alec asked the boy, who looked at Magnus before nodding silently. 

Alec understood that the boy was probably wary of shadowhunters. He made sure both Magnus and the boy were alright before walking away to allow them to talk in private, knowing the warlock boy would feel more comfortable talking to Magnus without a shadowhunter around. He stood a few feet away, watching to make sure no other demons snuck up on them and attacked. He didn’t think it would happen, but it never hurt to be sure. And besides, there wasn't much else for him to do as he waited.

Eventually, Magnus walked towards him, holding the little boy's hand.

They walked back to Wendy’s daycare in silence, the only sound breaking the silence was the little boy's occasional sniffles as he tried to hold in his tears. When they got back, Wendy hugged the boy tightly, almost sobbing in relief as she thanked Magnus and Alec again and again. The boy looked upset and nervous as Wendy hugged him, no doubt expecting to be yelled at for running away.

Alec and Magnus left Wendy and the boy alone to talk. Alec walked over to Madzie, who was sitting against one of the tall trees in the yard, holding a doll tightly in her arms. She was quiet when the two men walked over to her, but the moment she saw Alec she dropped her doll and ran over to him, hugging him as tightly as she could with her small arms. Alec let her hug him, and hugged her back. Madzie then let go of Alec before running towards Magnus and giving him the same tight hug she had given Alec. It was a sweet sight, seeing Magnus and Madzie together. Alec couldn’t hide his small smile at the sight. He wished he could see Magnus and Madzie together every day. They were adorable. Adorable was probably not the best word to use for a four hundred year old warlock, but it was truly the only word that fit in the situation.

“Can we go home now?” Madzie asked when she finished hugging both of them.

Alec wasn’t sure if she was talking to him or Magnus, he also didn’t know what she meant as her home. She had referred to Alec’s apartment as her home a few times, but she had also lived in Magnus’s loft for a while. Since Madzie was currently staying with Alec, he guessed she was talking about his apartment.

“Yeah Madz, we can go home,” He said, shooting a small smile at Magnus who was already making them a portal back to Alec’s apartment.

-

“Alec are you my daddy?” Madzie asked shyly later that night, as Alec was tucking her into bed. The question made Alec freeze for a moment, but he quickly continued as if nothing had happened, tucking Madzie into bed until she was comfortably huddled under the covers. She looked up at him with wide, nervous eyes when Alec didn’t answer immediately.

“Do you want me to be?” Alec asked, picking his words carefully.

He didn’t want to upset Madzie. He may have been taking care of her now, but he didn’t know if he would ever be able to be Madzie’s legal parent and guardian. Warlock customs were different from shadowhunter customs as well as mundane customs. Adoption was different too. Since Alec was a shadowhunter, he didn’t know if he’d be able to adopt Madzie. Even if he didn't adopt Madzie, he still considered the little warlock his daughter. But ultimately it was her decision, whether she wanted Alec to be her dad or not.

“Yeah,” Madzie said and she nodded excitedly, “Today at daycare Owen was talking about his mommy and daddy and then everyone was talking about their parents and I don’t have any but then Tea said that you were my daddy and I didn’t know because I don’t call you daddy and then Owen said that you weren’t my daddy because you were a shadowhunter and I’m not so then Tea started saying that her mommy is a mundane and she’s a warlock so your mommy and daddy don’t have to be the same as you.”

Madzie rambled, one long endless sentence, and Alec smiled at Madzie’s happiness. She had gone from being nervous about asking Alec to be her father to being happy in less than a minute. Alec didn’t know if he would ever get used to Madzie. He hoped not. It was cute when she switched emotions quickly, and when she rambled happily.

Alec realised, when Madzie eventually fell asleep against his chest mid-sentence, that though the day hadn’t been great, Madzie had made it better in less than ten minutes by simply being in his life. Alec had always been different. He was the oldest child, and he was gay. He had to hide who he was and he had to constantly watch Jace and Izzy to make sure they didn’t make stupid decisions. He had never imagined this life for himself. He had never imagined he would be a parent, let alone a single parent to a little warlock girl. But he found that he didn’t want to imagine a different life for himself, he loved Madzie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back to Karina's 3am writing. This is not beta-read and I also didn't bother to read through it. If there are any mistakes just remember I wrote this while drinking tea at 3am. Thank you to everyone who left kudos and comments. Your support means the world to me. Sometimes its hard to find the inspiration to write, but you guys give me the inspiration to keep writing.
> 
> Also, Tea and Owen are Madzie's friends. Tea is the purple-haired girl with white hair and Owen is the boy with the reptilian scales.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry I didn't update yesterday. I have no excuses, other than the fact I really didn't have the inspiration to write. Still, I hope you enjoy this chapter even if it's late.  
> In this chapter we have: Magnus POV, Malec (finally), and Madzie being adorable (that's not anything new, Madzie's always adorable)

Magnus was leaning against the marble counter of Alec Lightwood’s kitchen, silently watching him cook while Madzie played in her bedroom.

Magnus tried to stay out of Alec’s way as he moved around the kitchen, his movements concentrated and sure of himself. It was oddly entrancing to watch Alec cook. It wasn’t something Magnus would ever think he would see, a male shadowhunter cooking. To him, it sounded like another of the things shadowhunters would be ‘traditional’ about. Shadowhunters were old-school and traditional, so seeing a male shadowhunter cooking confidently, as if he knew what he was doing, well, it was interesting to watch.

It was Sunday, the day of their weekly meetings. They had started meeting every Sunday so that Magnus could see how Madzie was doing. He didn’t really need to, since Alec was great to Madzie and the little warlock was happier than Magnus had ever seen her, but he would take any excuse to see Madzie (and Alec but nobody had to know that). They had chosen to meet on Sundays since it was the day that worked best for Magnus. He tried not to schedule clients on Sunday, that way he could have at least one day off.

So Magnus was now in Alec Lightwood’s apartment, watching him make pasta. It wasn’t a very complicated meal, since all Alec had to do was boil the water and add the noodles, but it was what Madzie had said she wanted. Magnus had learned pretty quickly that it was nearly impossible for Alec to say no to Madzie. Whatever Madzie wanted, she most likely got. It was quite cute actually.

Watching Alec and Madzie interact was quickly becoming one of Magnus’s favourite things. They were both adorable together. He had always had a soft spot for Madzie, from the moment he met the little girl he had wanted to protect her. She was so smart and bright for her age. Magnus also had a bit of a soft spot for Alec, the shadowhunter who was so kind and beautiful and treated Downworlders as his equals. He would never admit that, however, because he had promised himself long ago that he would  _ never  _ get involved with a shadowhunter. Though it was hard to remember that when Magnus watched Alec and Madzie together. He was absolutely amazing with kids, and would make such a good father. Magnus had been thinking about maybe allowing Alec to officially adopt Madzie. It would be different, as he wasn’t a warlock, but he was the High Warlock of Brooklyn, he could surely make it happen. He hadn’t brought it up with Alec, it was just a thought he had been having recently. 

Seeing Alec with Madzie brought back feelings Magnus hadn’t felt in years. His crush on Alec was only growing the more he learned about the shadowhunter, and seeing Alec with Madzie was making Magnus picture a future with the man, a future where they were married and had kids and-  _ no _ . Magnus couldn’t think about things like that. They would never happen anyway.

“Daddy!” Magnus heard Madzie’s small voice call out from the doorway of the kitchen. The little warlock bounced over to Alec, who abandoned his cooking to turn and pick up Madzie, swinging her in his arms. 

He didn’t seem at all shocked at Madzie calling him daddy, the opposite actually. He had smiled at the word coming from Madzie’s mouth. When had that happened? Did Alec consider himself Madzie’s father? Madzie considered herself Alec's daughter? Magnus couldn’t concentrate on anything but the scene in front of him. Suddenly letting Alec adopt Madzie didn’t seem like such a far-fetched idea.

Magnus tried to shake the thoughts rising in his head, but now all he could picture was Alec, with kids clinging at his legs. He pictured the kids calling Alec daddy and Magnus as their papa. And that, well that was a dangerous thought right there.

Hearing Madzie call Alec Lightwood her dad made Magnus’s already-pretty-big crush on the shadowhunter grow even more. Magnus hadn’t thought that was possible. But really, how was he supposed to  _ not  _ fall in love with Alec when he was so perfect? He was a single shadowhunter father to a young warlock child. That sentence was something Magnus had never thought he would hear or say, but here he was. If someone had told him a year ago that a Lightwood would be the father to a warlock child, Magnus would have laughed in their face. But now it was actually happening, and he was watching it happen.

“Hey Madz,” Alec said kindly as he placed Madzie down on the counter, “Do you want to help me cook?”

“Yes!” Madzie said as she swung her small legs back and forth.

Alec didn’t seem to notice Magnus’s shock, he was too focused on Madzie, and Magnus was incredibly grateful. Alec smiled at the young warlock girl, a warm expression full of pure love. Magnus had seen Alec at the Institute, he was so stoic all the time. It was strange to see how he changed from stoic and cold to soft and loving when he was around Madzie.

Magnus silently watched the pair interact, leaning against the counter as he gazed at Alec curiosity. Alec was careful as he moved the pot away from Madzie before draining the noodles. Madzie was practically bouncing in place in excitement, though for what, Magnus didn't know. Alec took out the pasta sauce and poured a small amount into the pot, handing Madzie a wooden spoon and letting her stir the sauce onto the noodles. She looked so peaceful. It was such a domestic scene, and Madzie looked so happy. Magnus couldn’t believe he had once tried to take the girl away from Alec. Now that he knew Alec, he knew how good of a person the man was, and he knew that Madzie was happiest with him. And she deserved happiness. 

“Are you staying to eat?” Alec asked Magnus, turning to face him.

“Yes! Stay!” Madzie said excitedly, and there was no way Magnus would be able to refuse with Madzie looking at him like that (not that he was planning on refusing in the first place.)

“Sure.” He said, a little surprised at himself for how quickly and easily he agreed.

Alec prepared three plates of pasta, two larger ones for him and Magnus and a smaller plate for Madzie. He brought them to the table while Magnus set up the cutlery. Magnus waved his hand and the table was all set up. Madzie looked excited at the display of magic, and Alec just looked amused. Once the table was set up, Alec went back to the kitchen to help Madzie off the counter. He picked her up and carried her down to the ground.

Madzie grabbed Magnus’s hand and led him to the table. Magnus let himself be dragged along by the little girl.

The dinner went actually quite well. Magnus felt oddly comfortable sitting across from Alec, eating and talking casually and comfortably as if they did it every day. Madzie talked about her day at daycare, and both Magnus and Alec listened intently, adding small comments here and there when necessary, making Madzie brighten up with excitement. She was telling them about how one of her friends, Tea, who was older than Madzie by two years (but still quite young by warlock standards) had learned to summon things, and had been showing off at daycare. Alec asked small, easy questions, things Madzie could easily answer, and Magnus found himself once again shocked at the shadowhunter. Alec was talking about magic with Madzie as if it was completely normal, instead of the usual demeaning comments Magnus was used to hearing from shadowhunters.

“I could teach you to summon things, if you’d like,” Magnus offered, “But it’s going to be really hard so you have to listen closely when I’m teaching you, okay?”

Madzie giggled, “Okay.”

They finished eating and Alec picked up their plates, going to place them in the sink. Before Alec could clean the dishes, Magnus waved his hand to clean the dishes, and watched in amusement as Alec jumped back in shock at the blue sparks floating around the plates. Although Alec’s original reaction was one of shock, his shock quickly melted into a grateful expression as he shot Magnus a small smile.

“Can we watch a movie?” Madzie asked, distracting Magnus from Alec.

“Of course we can, princess.” Alec said gently, “Go pick your movie.”

Madzie scurried away to pick her movie, leaving Magnus and Alec alone in the kitchen. Magnus looked back at Alec, and their eyes met. He didn’t know what to say or do. He wasn't used to feeling this was. He was usually so confident and flirty, but he couldn't think of anything to say to Alec Lightwood. Alec seemed to feel the same way, or maybe he simply felt awkward at Magnus’s not-so-subtle staring. Yes, that was probably it.

“I want  _ Aladdin _ .” Madzie declared loudly as she walked back into the kitchen breaking the staring between the two men, “Can Magnus stay and watch too?”

“If he wants to stay, he can.” Alec said, and then looked at Magnus.

Magnus agreed, because of course he wanted to stay. He didn’t want to intrude on their family time, but Madzie had asked him to stay and Alec hadn’t seemed opposed to the idea, so he decided it couldn’t hurt. He watched Alec and Madzie place blankets and pillows around on the floor in a circle. Alec and Magnus sat side by side in the circle of pillows, their backs against the couch. Madzie sat in between the two men. They watched the movie in silence, broken only by Madzie’s occasional comments. Magnus spent the majority of the movie watching Alec and Madzie instead of watching the movie. Alec was running his fingers through Madzie’s curls and the little girl moved halfway throughout the movie to sit on Alec’s lap, her head resting on his chest. (Magnus’s heart totally didn’t skip a beat at the sight, nope, not at all.)

That night Magnus helped Alec get Madzie ready for bed. It was all very domestic, like the rest of the night had been. Maybe Magnus should stop these meetings, they were not helping him push away his growing feelings.

“Magnus too,” Madzie said sleepily after Alec had tucked her into bed, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

Magnus brushed Madzie’s hair away from her face before pressing a kiss to Madzie’s forehead, copying the gesture Alec had done.

When Madzie was sleeping peacefully, Magnus followed Alec back into the living room. They were alone now. Magnus wasn’t sure how to act around Alec without Madzie around acting as a distraction. He had been left alone in the kitchen with Alec for less than a minute and had been a mess, why did he think now would be any better. He wasn’t used to being nervous around someone. The last time he had had a crush so strong that he was nervous around them was... Magnus didn’t actually remember.

“You’re good with her,” He said finally.

“Thanks,” Alec said.

Magnus racked his brain for conversation topics. He knew none of his interests matched Alec’s. Alec was quiet and introverted, preferred to stick with people he knew, while Magnus was outgoing and eccentric. 

“So Madzie calls you her dad now?” Magnus asked.

“Oh, that,” Alec looked nervous now, and he raised a hand to rub the back of his neck, “She asked if she could and I agreed. I’m sorry I didn’t ask you first. I can get her to stop if you’re not okay with it.”

“Relax, Alexander,” Magnus said, “I think it’s nice that she loves you that much. It’s obvious you love her just as much as she loves you. I’ve seen mundane parents abandon their children for being warlocks, and it's awful. A parent's love should be unconditional. You’re exactly the kind of parent Madzie deserves, I’m sorry for ever thinking you were trying to hurt her.”

Magnus had already apologised multiple times, almost every time he and Alec talked actually, and Alec always said that it was alright and he forgave Magnus. That didn’t stop Magnus from apologizing again, though, He couldn’t help it, he truly did feel awful about what he had done.

“You already apologised and I already told you, I forgive you.” Alec said, his tone serious but not unkind, “We both wanted the same thing, to protect Madzie. We just had different ways of doing it. But I could never be mad at you for what you did, since I was also trying to protect Madzie.”

After that, conversation flowed easily. They talked for another hour or so before Magnus decided it was probably time for him to head back to his loft. He had a client early in the morning and a potion to finish. Still, he wished he could stay and talk to Alec longer. Once they got over the original awkwardness of not having Madzie around, he found that despite being so different, they found a lot to talk about. Magnus told Alec stories of his many adventures with his friends, such as the time he became a pirate with Ragnor. Alec told him stories about his siblings, Jace and Izzy, and some of their adventures. Magnus laughed harder than he had laughed in a long time. Magnus noticed the pleased expression Alec wore whenever he managed to make Magnus laugh. It was endearing.

When Magnus portalled back to his loft that night, it was with thoughts of Alec and his smile, his laugh, his kind eyes, his amazing body, his kindness, his everything. Magnus was so screwed. He had always fallen in love hard and fast, and it usually ended in heartbreak. Still, Magnus couldn’t lie to himself, he was definitely falling hard and fast for Alexander Lightwood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for not updating yesterday. I didn't have the inspiration to write and I honestly felt sick.  
> Also, I know it might seem like the Malec in this story is advancing way too fast, but it's atually canon that Magnus falls in love really fast. This doesn't mean the fic won't be slow-burn. My goal for this fic was originally 8 chapters, but now I'm expecting it to be about 10 or 11 chapters long.  
> I also wanted to say that I read every one of your comments, even if I don't answer them all. I try to reply to most of the comments I get, but I haven't been really good at that recently. I read every one of the comments I get and they mean the world to me. It's what gives me the inspiration to continue this fic. So thank you to everyone who comments.  
> As always, this isn't beta read so feel free to point out any mistakes.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter includes: Catarina Loss, Magnus POV, Alec POV, Madzie being a smart little girl (she's more observant than you think)

“My dear Catarina,” Magnus said the moment he answered the phone. 

They both had packed schedules, and so it was difficult for them to find time to talk. They liked to plan phone calls whenever they knew they were both free. However, this phone call hadn’t been planned. Magnus had been sure Catarina had a shift at the hospital at the moment, but he wasn’t certainly complaining about the unexpected call. It was a surprise, but it was a pleasant surprise.

“Magnus,” Catarina answered. Magnus could hear the amusement in her voice even over the phone’s speaker.

“To what do I owe the pleasure of your call?” Magnus asked.

“Magnus, you texted me saying you had ‘important things you had to tell me’,” Catarina answered, “My shift just ended, so I could drop by if you still need to talk to me?”

“Oh,” Magnus had completely forgotten about the text. He had been thinking about Alec Lightwood -because when was he not thinking about Alec Lightwood- and wanted to talk to someone about it. Catarina was probably the nicest of his friends, and so he had texted her. Texted, not called, because it had been late at night, after Magnus had spent the entire day at Alec’s apartment with the shadowhunter and Madzie. He didn’t want to talk to either Ragnor or Raphael, since the two of them would most likely simply laugh at Magnus. Well, Ragnor would laugh at him about his growing feelings for the shadowhunter, and Raphael would make dry, extremely unhelpful comments. “Yes, of course you can still stop by. You know I would never say no to an excuse to see you.”

“I’ll be over soon Magnus, and please make drinks. I have had the worst day.” Catarina said.

“Of course.” He answered, and then the call ended.

Magnus started on making them drinks, knowing that they would both need it for the conversation they were about to have. Usually, when they got together, they would drink while Cat complained about her mundane patients, and Magnus either complained about his stranger clients or some ridiculous Downworlder problem he had to deal with. It was always fun, casual conversations. Except for when they talked about relationships, more specifically, Magnus’s relationships. It always went one of two ways. He would either drink away his feelings while crying, and Cat would hold him and comfort him, or he would be gushing about the person he liked/loved and Cat would listen to him (because none of his other friends would).

This time, it would be the second of the two options, because Magnus needed to talk to someone about Alec, someone who had never met Alec and someone who wouldn’t judge him for having growing feelings for a shadowhunter (not that Magnus wasn’t judging himself a little).

A few minutes later, Magnus felt Catarina’s familiar presence just outside his wards, and he let her into his loft. 

They settled onto Magnus’s couch, both nursing their drinks. The conversation was light and easy, as they caught up with what the other had been doing for the past few days. They successfully managed to avoid the topic of Magnus’s text and what it meant, at least until the conversation started to slow. Catarina gave him a look, and he knew what was coming next.

“What did you have to tell me, Magnus?” Catarina asked, “Because I know you, and normally you’d have talked my ear off by now.”

Magnus fiddled with the rings on his fingers.

“Do you remember the shadowhunter who was taking care of Madzie?” He asked.

“Of course,” Cat answered, “The one you hate. Did he do something? Did something happen to Madzie? Speaking of which, didn’t you take Madzie back from him? Where is she?”

“One question at a time,” Magnus said, forcing his voice to stay casual, “He didn’t do anything, it’s actually more what I did. No nothing happened to Madzie, she’s perfectly fine. Better than fine, she’s great. Yes, I did take Madzie back and that’s part of the problem. She’s not here because I gave her back to Alec Lightwood.”

“You gave her back to Alec Lightwood?” Catarina asked confused and slightly frantic, “Did the Clave do something?”

“No, I gave her back willingly.” Magus answered.

“Explain.”

So Magnus told her everything. The moment he started to talk, he couldn’t stop. It was like he had opened a dam, and everything was rushing out. He told Cat about his first few experiences with Alec, which were quite awful. He told her about taking Madzie from Alec, about his realisation that maybe that hadn’t been the best thing to do, about giving Madzie back to Alec. He told her about how he’d been seeing Alec more often now, about how they had become friends. He told her about Alec, about his kindness, about his determination, about his beautiful hazel eyes, about how good he was with Madzie, about how unfairly attractive he was, about how he treated Downworlders like his equals.

“So, you like him?” Catarina asked, laughing into her glass when Magnus had finished his rambling. She looked up at him, and Magnus was powerless to do anything but tell the truth, she would be able to tell if he was lying anyway so there was no point in trying to avoid it.

“Yes.” He said.

“Then I think you should go for it,” Catarina said, and at Magnus’s shocked expression she continued, “I’m serious. I don’t like shadowhunters, at all. But you like this shadowhunter, and you trust him with Madzie, a warlock child. You know the risks, and yet you trust he won’t do anything to her. That's proof enough to me that he’s trustworthy. If this shadowhunter is as good and kind as you say he is, I think you should go for it. Even if he doesn’t feel the same way, I’m sure he’d be kind enough to say it in a nice way.”

“I-” Magnus paused, “Thank you. You always know what to say.”

-

Alec was making lunch for Madzie when he got the call. There was a team sent out earlier in the day. It was a simple mission, kill the demons and leave. But when the team had arrived they had realised there had been more demons than they had expected, and they were horribly outnumbered. Alec had to go to the Institute immediately.

“Madzie,” Alec said as he knocked on Madzie’s shut bedroom door, “How do you feel about going to see Magnus for a little?”

Almost immediately, the door swung open, revealing Madzie standing in the doorway. The door had happened so quickly Alec hadn’t had the time to lower his hand, and it was still raised from knocking. He lowered it slowly as he looked down at Madzie. She had a wide smile on her face as she looked up at him through her dark lashes. Alec couldn’t help the smile growing on his lips when he saw her happiness.

“I’m going to see Magnus?” She asked.

Alec had barely gotten the “yes” out before Madzie was rushing back into her room, taking random toys and stuffing it into a small duffel bag. She had a look of extreme concentration on her face as she picked out the toys she wanted to bring to Magnus’s loft. Magnus could have used his magic to give Madzie whatever toys she wanted, but they had gotten into a routine, and by now it was just something Madzie was used to doing. It had started when Alec would bring her to the Institute. There wasn’t much there for Madzie to do, so she started packing small bags full of toys to bring into Alec’s office with her. Whenever she had to go somewhere new, somewhere that wasn’t Alec’s apartment and didn't have her piles of toys, she would pack a bag.

While he watched Madzie pack, he decided to call Magnus. He probably should have asked Magnus first, but the warlock had never before refused to babysit Madzie, no matter how busy he had been. Alec just really hoped Magnus didn’t get mad at him for forgetting to ask before telling Madzie.

Alec took out his phone, dialing the number he now knew by heart. 

“Alexander,” Magnus answered after the second ring. His voice was soothing even over the phone, and Alec felt himself relaxing. He hadn’t even noticed he was that stressed, but now that he was talking to Magnus he could feel the weight being lifted off of his shoulders.

“Magnus,” Alec greeted back, “Um, I’m sorry if this- I mean I should have asked you first but I need to get to the Institute and I can’t bring Madzie. What I’m trying to ask is if you’re free? To babysit Madzie? It’s alright if you’re not, I can figure something out.”

“Alexander,” Magnus said, interrupting Alec’s rambling, “Of course I’ll watch her. Do you need me to make you a portal?”

“Yes,” Alec breathed out, “I mean, yes, that’d be nice.”

Alec talked to Magnus for a few more minutes, telling him how long he expected to be gone (2 hours at the most, hopefully), and if Madzie would need to stay at Magnus’s loft overnight (hopefully not, but Alec knew that his luck was awful and so he probably shouldn’t hope). Magnus hung up, but not before creating the portal for Alec and Madzie. Even though Alec wasn’t in the room, he knew Magnus had formed the portal in the living room. Magnus had started to create Alec portals for whenever he needed to drop Madzie off, and Alec was extremely grateful. Magnus couldn’t do it in the Institute, as it was warded and would set off alarms, but as long as Alec wasn’t in the Institute, he would make portals for Alec and Madzie. 

Once Madzie was finished packing her toys, Alec grabbed her by the hand and let her lead him to the living room where the portal was swirling, just as he had expected. They stepped through the portal together, walking out into Magnus’s loft.

“Magnus!” Madzie said the moment she stepped out of the portal. She practically ripped her hand away from Alec’s as she ran towards Magnus, hugging him tightly. It was as if she hadn’t seen Magnus in weeks, when in reality they saw each other at least every three days, and that was if both Magnus and Alec were especially busy and Alec couldn't find the time in his schedule to go visit Magnus with the young warlock. Alec liked to find time to visit Magnus with Madzie, both for the little girl, who loved Magnus, and also a little for himself. He was a weak, weak man, and seeing Madzie and Magnus together made him want more with the older warlock.

“Hi sweetpea,” Magnus said as he gave Madzie a one-armed hug. She was still holding onto his leg, and it was difficult for him to maneuver himself so he could hug her back.

It was an endearing sight.

“You can go, Alexander, I know you probably have things to do,” Magnus said, and that was when Alec realised he hadn't yet spoken, too busy staring at Magnus.

“Oh- yes- I should- go. I should go.” Alec blushed as he stammered, hoping Magnus hadn’t realised his (quite obvious) staring. But Magnus didn’t seem to be watching Alec, as his eyes were still downcast and looking at the little warlock girl who had slowly started to untangle her arms from around him. Alec was really grateful for Madzie at that moment, for taking the attention off of him and his panicked stammering and blushing.

“I should go,” He said again, and Magnus waved his hand casually to create another portal, one Alec guessed would take him to the Institute. “Bye.”

Alec swore he heard Magnus whisper a quiet “Goodbye Alexander” as he left, but he was sure his brain was making things up now. He was sure he had imagined the soft tone of voice, the worry in Magnus’s voice as Alec left. He was sure he had imagined the way Magnus seemed to be worried about Alec going out and fighting, as if he didn’t want Alec to hurt himself. It was his crush making his mind play tricks on him, he was sure. But Alec still let himself think for a moment that it was real. Because he wanted it to be real.

-

Alec made his way back to Magnus’s loft, walking slowly. He was exhausted, and just wanted to curl up and sleep, but he knew he had to go get Madzie. He got to Magnus’s loft, and when he tried to open the door, he found it was already unlocked. It swung open under his hand.

Alec didn’t think anything of it, since Magnus was pretty used to his presence by now. He was the High Warlock of Brooklyn, his wards were strong, but maybe he had changed them to allow Alec inside. But when Alec walked in, and he didn’t see Magnus or Madzie anywhere, he started to grow anxious. The living room was impeccable, and there was no sign of anyone breaking in, but Alec had just come back from a fight and was still a little on edge.

All of his worries faded, however, when the door to Magnus’s room opened and Madzie came running out, giggling loudly. 

“Alec!” The little warlock said happily, “Look! I’m sparkly like Magnus!”

She was right, she was sparkly. She had glitter in her hair -and god Alec hoped Magnus could magically make it go away, it would be a nightmare to wash out. She was wearing her usual dress and leggings, but the dress was a sparkly purple colour. She looked like she was wearing makeup, but Alec didn’t know enough about makeup to be able to recognise what exactly she was wearing. Madzie looked extremely happy about her glittery makeover, if the way she was skipping happily out of the room was any indication. 

“Sorry, I can get rid of the glitter and makeup if you want,” Magnus said, following Madzie out of the room.

“No, I want to keep it!” Madzie said, “Please can I keep it?” She asked, looking up at Alec with puppy dog eyes that Alec could never say no to.

“It’s fine,” Alec said, “She can keep it on for a little longer if she wants. I think I have makeup wipes at home from Izzy.”

Madzie was still standing between the two adults, looking between them with a strange look on her young face. The little warlock started to smile widely, in a way that made Alec certain she was planning something. It was the same look Alec was used to seeing on Jace and Izzy’s faces, usually an hour or so before he got a call saying they had made another dumb decision and he had to go fix it. But Madzie did nothing, just waved her hand to get her bag from where it had been left in Magnus’s room, and grabbed Alec’s calloused hand in her small one. 

“Bye-bye Magnus!” She said sweetly, “Are you coming over to see me tomorrow?”

Magnus looked at Alec before answering. It was sweet that Magnus asked Alec before answering Madzie. It meant he trusted Alec to make the decisions for the little warlock. He knew it was hard for Magnus to trust him, and he understood why. Alec had read his Clave file after meeting him, and Magnus had a long list of awful experiences with shadowhunters. But the fact he trusted Alec with Madzie, and he let Alec make the decisions involving Madzie’s childhood gave Alec hope that maybe he could change Magnus’s opinion on shadowhunters. Especially since Alec had been thinking lately, and wanted to ask Magnus if there was a possible way for him to officially adopt Madzie. He would definitely need the High Warlock’s permission if he wanted to do something like that.

It was nice that Magnus already treated Alec like he was Madzie’s father.

Alec nodded in Magnus’s direction, to tell him that yes it was alright if he came to see them tomorrow. Magnus gave Alec a grateful smile before turning to Madzie, who had watched the interaction between Magnus and Alec with interested eyes and was now watching Magnus with an expectant look.

“Of course, sweetpea,” Magnus said, a soft look on his face when he looked down at the young warlock.

“Good,” Madzie said, “I have lots of fun stuff planned.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you tell when I lost inspiration for this chapter? While writing this chapter I had the worst writers block. My inspiration went up and down randomly. I also didn't read through it, so I'm sorry for any mistakes. If it seems rushed or bad, I'm sorry.  
> I just want to warn all my readers in advance that I don't know if I'll post Tuesday. My usual update days are Tuesdays and Saturdays but I don't have much inspiration to write lately and it's really stressful to try and get chapters out twice a week. I will try to post, but I'm warning you in advance that I might not.   
> I promise I won't abandon the story, even if I do need to take a break for a little bit. I do intend to finish this fic.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Is this my best chapter, no. Does it have a lot of cute Madzie POV, yes.  
> Featuring mostly Madzie POV, scheming, and Madzie is taking after her aunt.

Madzie was more observant than most people thought. She was smart for her age. She had been through a lot, and it had taught her to grow up early. It wasn’t necessarily a good thing, but it had taught her a lot. She had seen things children should never see. She had always been quiet as a child, because if she listened to conversations instead of participating in them, she could gather information. It was her way of keeping herself safe, of making sure she knew what was going on at all times. So yes, Madzie was quite observant. Which meant she had quickly realised that her daddy  _ liked  _ liked Magnus, as more than a friend. At first, it had only been a theory, one she wasn’t completely sure about. But then she had seen them together, and she realised that she had never been more right about something in her life. It only got better when Madzie realised Magnus liked liked her daddy too.

So Madzie started to plot. 

She grabbed a sketchbook that her daddy’s friend Clary had given her, and ripped out one of the blank pages. She then grabbed her crayons, picking a purple one because it was her favourite colour. She bit down on her lower lip in concentration as she started to write down her plan on the page. She made sure to make it nice and organised, she wanted it to look professional. Madzie knew it had to look good because she had seen her daddy work and his important work was always organised and well written. This plan, to Madzie, was important. She needed the plan to work if she wanted Magnus to be her daddy too.

Madzie wanted Magnus to be her other dad. She liked Magnus, and she had liked living with him. It had been fun to have another warlock around, even if she had missed Alec, who wasn’t yet her daddy at the time. She liked it when she went to Magnus’s loft, and she liked it even more when Magnus came to her apartment. Because when Magnus came to see Madzie at her apartment, Madzie got to see both her daddy and Magnus had the same time. Usually, when Madzie went to see Magnus at his loft, it was because her daddy had something important to do and Magnus was babysitting Madzie while he was away.

Madzie had brought up the topic of her daddy and Magnus liking each other with her aunt Izzy, her daddy’s sister, when she had been at the Institute one day. Her aunt Izzy had helped Madzie think about her plan, and they had plotted together. But Madzie had promised that if her daddy ever found out, she would say it was only her idea. Because her daddy would get mad at aunt Izzy for meddling, but not Madzie, because he could never get mad at Madzie. Aunt Izzy had taught Madzie a lot, and now the little warlock thought she knew enough now to start constructing her plan to get her daddy and Magnus to date.

_ How to make daddy and Magnus date: _

_ Step 1: Pretend to be sick (or something else because warlocks don't get sick) _

_ Step 2: Make Magnus come over _

_ Step 3: Make sure Magnus takes care of you so daddy sees that Magnus is also a good daddy _

_ Step 4: Leave them alone together _

_ Step 5: Hope that the plan works and they fall in love _

It was the perfect plan. It was simple, which was good, because that way Madzie would be able to switch a few things if her plan was starting to go south. Her plan had to work. Madzie would do something to get Magnus to spend time with her, she would make sure to be  _ really  _ cute, and then her daddy would see Magnus taking care of Madzie. That’s when he would have his big revelation and would realise that he and Magnus belonged together. Then they would both be Madzie’s dads and they would live happily ever after, like in the fairytales, but more realistic.

She picked up the paper and folded it. She made sure to fold it carefully because it was important and couldn’t accidentally get ripped. She walked over to her bed and moved her pillow just slightly to tuck the paper underneath it. She had to hide it to make sure her daddy didn’t find it. If he found it and knew Madzie’s plan, it wouldn’t work. She had to make sure to be subtle, that’s what her aunt Izzy said. She put her crayons and sketchbook away, because she couldn’t have any evidence laying around. When she was sure her room was clean and her daddy wouldn’t find the paper, she walked out of her bedroom with a proud smile on her face. 

-

Alec was pacing back and forth in his apartment, half-wishing he was at the Institute. As the Head of the Institute, he had a lot to do and to deal with, and it was easier to deal with the problems while at the Institute, where he had all the resources he needed. But though it would have been easier for him, he wouldn't want to do that to Madzie. He knew the little girl liked him, Izzy (who she had started calling aunt Izzy), and Clary, but he knew how most shadowhunters must have looked at her. They didn’t like having a warlock in the Institute, let alone a child warlock who couldn't control her magic very well yet. Many shadowhunters had told Alec that, and he had simply ignored them. 

While Alec may not care what the shadowhunters at his Institute thought about Madzie, he didn’t want them to say or do anything to upset the little girl. She was still young and didn’t deserve to have to deal with the discrimination that came with being a warlock. She would have to, eventually, but that day wouldn’t be today, or anytime soon. Especially not at his Institute, Alec wouldn’t allow it.

“Daddy, can you call Magnus?” Madzie said from the doorway of her bedroom, her voice breaking him out of his thoughts.

Her voice sounded small, like she was sick or injured, and it made Alec immediately turn around to look at her. Alec looked her up and down quickly, assessing the little warlock for any injuries. Physically, she looked alright, and Alec let out a relieved sigh at that. But when Alec looked up at Madzie’s face, he saw exhaustion clear in her eyes. She took a few slow steps closer to Alec, and acting on pure instinct from when Izzy or Max had been sick, Alec rushed forward to pick her up in his arms. If Madzie wasn’t injured, he couldn't think of anything that could be wrong with her. She could have been sick, but warlock immunity was almost perfect, and so he knew it most likely wasn’t that. Unless it was a sickness only for warlocks, and something Alec wouldn’t know how to deal with. 

“Are you okay, princess?” He asked, worried.

Madzie shook her head slightly, and then stopped the movement abruptly. She let her head drop and rested it against Alec’s shoulder.

“I’m dizzy,” She mumbled softly, and Alec felt his heart break when he saw the beginnings of tears in Madzie's dark eyes.

Alec walked over the few steps to the couch, placing her down gently. He didn’t want to bring her back to her room, as he didn't want to let the little girl out of his sight. He covered her up with a soft grey blanket, and ran a hand through her dark curls. Madzie smiled at the feeling of having her hair played with. Alec knew she liked it, and since Madzie had started living with Alec he had learned how to brush hair, braid hair, and was in the process of learning a few more complicated hairstyles to do on Madzie.

“I’m going to call Magnus, okay?”

-

Madzie felt a little guilty, for making her daddy worry, but it was all a part of the plan. She knew that technically she couldn't say she was sick, since she had warlock immunity, but she thought of the next best thing. Magnus had been giving Madzie magic lessons, along with the lessons Madzie had been getting at the warlock daycare. Warlocks, especially young ones, got tired easily when using their magic. Overexertion was easier for young warlocks, as they didn’t yet have the experience older warlocks had. So she had used that to her advantage.

If she had lied and said she was sick, Magnus might have come over, but he wouldn't have bothered to stay. He would have known Madzie was lying, and Madzie knew her daddy would have known she was lying too. Her daddy may have been in the learning process, but he knew enough about warlocks to know they didn’t get sick. But magic depletion, being tired from overexertion, that was something that would work. Magnus would be worried about her, because he had told her many times during her lessons to never use too much magic unless it was absolutely necessary. Her daddy wouldn’t know what to do, so he’d get Magnus, and then  _ bam!  _ They’d be in the same room, both worrying about Madzie, both taking care of Madzie. Together, like real parents.

Madzie had done a few summoning spells, summoning her toys to her hands. It was simple compared to what Magnus did on the daily, but hard for Madzie who was young and still learning to control her magic. She had actually tired herself out in the process, which wasn't her original plan. But now that she was actually depleted and exhausted, Madzie supposed it could help make it more believable.

She could hear her daddy on the phone, talking to Magnus. He had moved over to the kitchen to call Magnus, so Madzie couldn't hear what he was saying. She would have stood up to eavesdrop, or she would have used her favourite eavesdropping spell, but she was too tired to do either of those things. She was regretting her plan a little bit, only because of how awful she felt. But she reminded herself that in the end, it would all be worth it. In the end, daddy and Magnus would fall in love, and then Magnus would be Madzie’s other dad and would live with her and her daddy.

So Madzie laid down on the couch and waited impatiently for her daddy to be finished on the phone and come back to see her. Although she couldn’t quite move from the couch, she could tilt her head up, and so she did. From her new angle, she could see her daddy pacing in the kitchen, nodding his head in agreement as he listened to Magnus on the phone. Eventually, he hung up the phone, and Madzie let her head drop down onto the pillow once again when she saw him coming.

“What did you do Madzie?” Alec asked.

“I was practicing my magic, just like Magnus told me to,” Madzie said. She had to fight to keep her eyes open, her eyelids fluttering closed slowly. Madzie reminded herself that she had to be awake when Magnus came, so she could make sure step 1 of her plan worked. She could sleep when she was certain her plan had worked. There was no such thing as sleep in situations like these.

Alec hummed, brushing his hand through Madzie’s hair again, “You should be more careful Madz. You’re lucky nothing worse happened to you, I wouldn’t be able to help you.”

“That’s why you need Magnus,” Madzie said, the words escaping her mouth without thought. The moment they were out she cursed her half-asleep brain, because that hadn't been a part of the plan, but she didn’t take them back. She wanted to see how her daddy would react to what she had said, how he would take it. Would he think she meant it in a platonic way? Because she definitely didn’t. She wanted them to date, and then get married, and then Madzie would be the flower girl at their wedding. She may or may not have planned their entire wedding, but if anybody asked her about it Madzie would blame that on her aunt Izzy. It was Izzy who had brought up the wedding, and she was also the one who had mentioned how cute Madzie would look in a flower girl dress. All Madzie had done was agree.

“That’s true,” Alec said, “I do need Magnus. Especially if you’re going to keep pulling stunts like this.”

So he did think Madzie meant it platonically, _ great.  _ Maybe this would be harder than Madzie had originally thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember when I said I may not have a chapter ready for today, well here it is. I honestly didn't think I would post today but I had a random burst of inspiration at 6am and decided to write it down. It's kind of a short chapter, but it leads up to the next chapter which I promise will be more interesting.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is mostly Malec.

Magnus had been with a client when he had gotten the call from Alec. It had been quite a rude client, and so Magnus had not felt at all bad when he ignored the client in favour of answering the call. His first reaction had been happiness, because Alexander had called him, but his happiness turned to worry when he heard the reason for Alec’s call. Madzie wasn’t well. She wasn’t sick, but Alec thought maybe she had used up too much magic. The shadowhunter wasn’t sure, and he had been panicking by the time Magnus had answered the phone. Magnus had been quick to reassure Alec that Madzie would be fine, the little girl would just need food and rest.

Magnus had hurried to finish with his client the moment he had finished the phone call with Alec. If the client thought he was rude, Magnus didn’t care. He was almost hoping the client had thought he was rude, in hopes that the fairy would decide to go to another warlock next time they needed something, and left Magnus alone. 

Once he had given the fairy the potion they needed and explained the instructions, he hurried to get them out of his loft. He took a few moments to simply breathe, because he had had clients since early in the morning and had almost no energy left. But because Magnus loved Madzie (and Alec), he would help them. So he made a portal to Alec’s apartment, wasting no time in stepping through, easily slipping past the wards he had created. After Alec had adopted Madzie, he had asked Magnus if he could ward the apartment. Magnus had created wards for Alec’s apartment that were almost as strong as the wards on his own. His original thoughts when making them were that they would protect Madzie, who was a young warlock. Too many young warlocks died before their first century of living, and Magnus wanted to make sure that didn’t happen to the little girl. After Magnus started to grow fonder of Alec, he had strengthened the wards. The shadowhunter didn't know he had done it, because what was Magnus supposed to tell him?  _ ‘I made the wards for Madzie at first because I hated you but now I’m falling in love with you so I decided I needed to make sure you were safe and I strengthened your wards.’ _ That would be ridiculous.

Magnus had made sure the wards would only let a few people inside. The list included Alec, Madzie, Alec’s immediate family (minus Maryse and Robert Lightwood, so basically just Izzy and Max), Alec’s parabatai, Biscuit, Magnus himself, and Catarina. He had decided to let the nurse go through the wards, because she had taken care of Madzie for a brief amount of time, and while she hadn’t adopted Madzie, the little warlock did like Cat a lot. Besides, it would be good in case Madzie got hurt and needed help Magnus couldn’t give her, as he wasn't the best at healing magic.

Upon arriving, he saw a nervous Alec standing by the couch, running his long archer's fingers through Madzie’s curly hair. Madzie’s small form was curled up on the couch, a soft grey blanket covering her body. Madzie had her eyes closed, but Magnus could tell she wasn’t asleep. She was simply enjoying the feeling of having Alec play with her hair. Magnus could understand. He would love to have that with Alec. Just the comforting feeling of having someone hold him, play with his hair, hold his hands, cook with him. He did sometimes have more sexual thoughts about Alec -and by sometimes he meant a lot of the time- but sometimes he also just wished for the romantic parts of a relationship.

“Hello Alexander,” Magnus said. The shadowhunter looked up at him, a slightly startled expression on his face as if he hadn’t seen or heard Magnus come in. Magnus didn’t take it personally, Alec had been focused on Madzie, which was completely understandable. “It’s lovely to see you again, though I wish it was under better circumstances.”

Alec didn’t answer, he only nodded silently. Once again, Magnus didn't take it personally. He knew Alec was very protective, and he worried about the people he cared about. Magnus had listened to Alec talk about his siblings, and it was clear he loved them immensely. Magnus could now see that same love and care being given to Madzie. Alec was treating Madzie with the same love he gave to his siblings when they were younger. It gave Magnus hope, hope that maybe shadowhunters and warlocks could one day be friends and families. It must have been difficult for the shadowhunter to concentrate on much other than Madzie, especially when there was nothing he could do to magically heal the little girl.

So instead of focusing on Alec and trying to start a conversation with him, as he would do in any other situation that didn't involve a little warlock girl who had used too much magic even though Magnus had specifically told her not to do so on multiple occasions, Magnus focused on Madzie.

“Sweetpea, what did you try to do?” He asked the little girl.

“I was just practicing my magic,” Madzie said innocently. She opened her dark brown eyes to look up at Magnus through her eyelashes. She looked so young and innocent, laying on the couch like that. There was something about the way she spoke that made Magnus briefly wonder if she had done it on purpose, but he pushed it away. If Magnus thought he heard a hint of mischief mixed in with the innocent tone in the little warlock’s voice, he pushed it away. There was absolutely no way Madzie could have planned this situation. No warlock purposely  _ tried  _ to overuse their magic, especially one Madzie’s age. It was ridiculous.

“She needs sleep and food,” Magnus said, “There’s not much else to do for magic depletion. We should keep an eye on her. And before you say anything, Alexander, yes I said ‘we’. I’m staying. Not that you’re not great, but with something like this I think I could do a better job helping her than you could, considering you’ve never dealt with such a thing before.”

“I wasn’t going to say anything,” Alec said, “I’m glad you’re staying.”

Magnus felt his heart skip a beat and a blush rise to his cheeks at Alec’s honest words. Magnus had learned after talking to Alec a few times that the shadowhunter had the inability to be anything  _ but  _ honest. Sometimes it was too much for Magnus to handle. He was always too kind, too sweet. It didn’t help Magnus, who felt himself falling in love a little more each day he spent with Alec. Normally, to stop these emotions from taking over his brain and making him do a stupid thing like actually  _ tell  _ Alec how he felt, Magnus would have told himself that Alec was lying to be nice to him, to be polite. But that didn’t work in this situation, not with Alec being who he was. Since Magnus knew Alec was always honest, he also knew that Alec meant every single kind word he said. Although Alec meant all of his compliments in a platonic way, whilst Magnus wanted to be with Alec in any and every way he could have him, whether that was just as a friend or as a lover.

“Good,” Magnus said simply, because he couldn’t think of anything eloquent to say. It was like his brain had stopped working the moment he stepped into the same room as Alec Lightwood. Magnus pushed away all romantic thoughts of Alec, deciding instead to distract himself by focusing on Madzie, who was the reason he had portaled over in the first place.

-

Alec loved seeing Magnus interact with Madzie. He was amazing with her, always knowing what to say to make her simple and laugh, but he also knew how to get her to behave when she wasn’t listening. Sometimes Alec thought Magnus might have been a better parent for MAdzie than he was, only because Magnus could actually say no to the little warlock while Alec always ended up giving her whatever it was she wanted. Madzie was going to be one very spoiled little girl if Alec continued to give her whatever she wanted, and he had seen how spoiled children tended to turn out. They would become bratty and rude, and that was exactly what he  _ didn’t  _ want for Madzie. But could his sweet Madzie really ever become a brat? She knew better than that, right? That was what Alec always told himself before buying Madzie yet another toy or giving her more clothing despite the fact half the clothing in her closet were still unworn. But Magnus, he was good with her. He knew when to say yes and when to say no, and even if he said no to Madzie she still loved him. 

Madzie clearly adored Magnus. She always asked to spend time with the older warlock, and once Magnus was gone she would spend hours gushing about what the two of them had done together. Alec would have been upset and how much Madzie loved Magnus, but that would have made him a hypocrite. Madzie thought Magnus was the most amazing man to ever walk the earth, and though Alec would never say it out loud in case someone heard and word got back to the High Warlock, he shared the same opinion as Madzie. He loved having Magnus around. The warlock was kind, funny, and  _ wow  _ he was beautiful. If Alec sometimes used Madzie as an excuse to see Magnus, nobody had to know. Besides, he wasn’t lying when he told Magnus that Madzie wanted to see him. The little girl loved having another warlock around, to teach her and play with her using magic.

Alec would never say that he liked the way he and Magnus had met. It hadn’t been a very good first impression. It wasn’t actually the first time they had met, but it was the first time they had really talked for more than two seconds. He was embarrassed at his behaviour, and Magnus had already admitted to being embarrassed about his behaviour, so they were alright now. 

Though Alec didn’t like how he and Magnus had met, and though he had absolutely hated having Madzie taken away from him, he was a little glad the little warlock had stayed with Magnus for a while. Otherwise, he wasn't sure he would have been able to call Magnus in times like these, when Madzie had a problem and needed help that only a warlock could give her. Had Madzie not lived with Magnus for a while, the two warlocks would never have become very close, and Alec would probably be alone right now, trying to figure out how to deal with a young child warlock who had accidentally overused their magic. It wasn’t something he had much experience with, and so he was immensely glad when Magnus came over, even though he had been pretty sure Magnus had been fully booked by clients today. He didn’t question it. 

It was in moments like these, when Alec was pacing in his living room alone while Magnus and Madzie were in the little girl's room, that he started to think maybe he should have just let a warlock adopt Madzie. It would have been better for the little girl to have someone who would have been able to understand and help Madzie fully. It would have been easier. Madzie wouldn't have to spend a ton of time in the Institute if she had been adopted by a warlock, she most likely would never have gone in the Institute at all. She wouldn’t be constantly surrounded by people who didn’t want her around, she’d be around other warlocks who understood her.

But then Alec remembered Madzie’s scared face the first few times he had left her at the warlock daycare. He remembered how she had clung to him, despite the odd looks they had gotten as he was a shadowhunter. The little girl hadn't cared. She had clung to his arm and had looked into his eyes with fear in her own dark brown eyes. He remembered how she would ask the same question every day, and ask him if he was planning on leaving her there. She had always been so worried that he wouldn’t come back for her, and every day when he came to pick him up he could see the relief on her face. It had taken weeks to get rid of that habit, to make Madzie understand that he wouldn’t leave her. 

He could never regret Madzie. He regretted the fact he hadn’t saved her from Iris Rouse when she was younger, and he regretted the fact he had let horrible things happen to her before he took her in, but he didn’t regret her. Alec wished he could understand her better, that way he could give her a better childhood. He wanted her to be happy, that was all. That was why he had Magnus, right? The warlock would help Alec with all the warlock parts of Madzie’s childhood, like the magic training. He had already helped Alec so much, even if he didn’t realise it. 

Madzie had mentioned something about Alec needing Magnus, when she had been lying down on the couch, half-asleep. Maybe she hadn’t realised what she said, but it had been true. Alec had agreed with her, though he hadn’t been sure why the little warlock had felt the need to bring it up in the first place. It was true that Alec needed Magnus’s help, for many things. He needed Magnus to teach Madzie to control her magic, he needed Magnus to babysit Madzie when he was busy or had an emergency he had to attend to, he needed Magnus because he was the High Warlock and the only reason Alec was allowed to keep Madzie was because Magnus seemed to think Alec was good with her. There was a lot Alec didn’t understand about warlocks, since he had always been taught that Downworlders were evil at heart, and slaves to their impulses. It was only recently that Alec had started to spend more time with Downworlders, trying to create a better alliance between the Institute and the Downworlders in New York, and there was still a lot he didn’t know or understand about warlocks, let alone raising one.

Magnus walked out of Madzie’s bedroom, the girl nowhere in sight. He had gone into the bedroom with Madzie a while ago, telling Alec he would help her and for him to stay in the living room. Though Alec hadn’t really wanted to leave Madzie, Magnus had reassured him that all he was going to do was get the girl in bed to let her rest. It had only taken five minutes or so, but it had felt like ages for Alec. As Magnus walked out of the room he closed the door behind him, not shutting it fully but enough to prevent the light from the living room from going into Madzie’s bedroom. 

“She’s going to be alright,” Magnus said, “If you were worried.”

“Of course I was worried, she’s my daughter,” Alec said quickly, not even thinking about the words before he spoke them.  _ She’s my daughter.  _ It felt natural to him now, to call Madzie his daughter. He had been talking to Izzy and had called Madzie his daughter without even thinking about it. She had been surprised, but then had asked Alec if he had actually adopted Madzie yet, to which he had answered that he hadn’t. He didn’t know if he ever would, if he ever could. But that didn’t matter to him, what mattered to him was that he was pretty sure Madzie considered him her father, otherwise why would she call him daddy? Madzie was his little girl, his daughter. Alec wasn’t embarrassed about it. He would tell everyone, he would say it to the Downworlders who still hated working with shadowhunters, he would say it to the Clave if they asked. But he wasn’t sure how Magnus would react and that worried him. Because technically Magnus was the only one with the power to take Madzie away from him. And though Magnus had heard Madzie calling Alec daddy, Alec hadn’t yet outright stated that he considered Madzie his daughter.

“You consider her your daughter?” Magnus asked. His tone was neutral. Alec couldn't tell what he was thinking, which scared him a little more than he’d like to admit. He was a grown adult, a shadowhunter, and yet he was worried about Magnus’s reaction to him calling Madzie his daughter? No, he was worried about the  _ High Warlock’s _ reaction to a  _ shadowhunter  _ calling Madzie his daughter. It was completely different. Magnus was different when he was protecting his people.

“Yes.”

Alec held his breath as he waited for Magnus to say something, anything. His mind was running, thinking of all the possible ways this could go wrong. It most likely wouldn’t go wrong, and Alec knew that. Magnus already let Alec take care of Madzie, he must have known Alec would grow to think of Madzie as his daughter. Magnus had already shown that he trusted Alec with Madzie. But Alec was naturally protective of those he cared for, and that meant Madzie too. He couldn’t stand the idea of Madzie being taken away from him, and so even though he knew Magnus wouldn’t (probably) react badly, he still prepared himself for the worse reaction, just in case.

“Have you considered adoption?” Magnus asked, his voice carefully slow. He didn’t have to tell Alec that he was talking about Alec adopting Madzie, Alec understood even without Magnus outright saying the words.

“What?” Alec asked. His immediate reaction was one of shock, because of all the things he had been expecting Magnus to say, that had not been one of them. He had expected a little confusion, maybe some worry for Madzie and a little skepticism- because it was only normal that though he had seen Alec and Madzie together often, it would still take time for Magnus, who had lived for centuries with shadowhunters who hated Downworlders, to realise that times were changing. He had not expected Magnus to bring up adoption. 

That was clearly the wrong reaction, as Magnus’s face closed off, turning stone cold. Magnus must have thought Alec’s reaction was one of shock because he didn't want to adopt Madzie. Which was the furthest thing from the truth. But before Alec could tell Magnus that he had just been shocked, Magnus was already speaking.

“Of course you don’t want to,” Magnus muttered. It sounded to Alec like he was speaking more to himself than speaking to Alec. “I thought you might be different, after what I’ve seen of you. I thought maybe you had grown out of the prejudices that had been drilled into you. I thought you might want to give Madzie the home she deserves. But I suppose at heart you're just another shadowhunter, who can’t imagine adopting a warlock. I shouldn't have asked, I don’t know why I expected anything different.”

“What- I- no-” Alec stammered, trying to find the right words before Magnus portalled away and he lost his chance forever, “I was just shocked. I never said I didn’t want to adopt Madzie. I do, actually.”

“Oh,” Magnus said, letting out a soft breath.

Alec couldn’t help glancing down at Magnus’s lips as they parted, letting out the soft puff of air. They were shining slightly from some cosmetic product. He wanted to kiss Magnus, he wanted to know how his lips tasted. It took all of Alec’s willpower to glance away from Magus’s lips and look up into his brown eyes. That didn’t help Alec, because as his eyes caught Magnus’s eyes he saw the hope in the warlock's eyes. He almost leaned in and kissed Magnus right then and there, but he knew better and instead closed his eyes for half a second to collect himself. He couldn’t kiss Magnus, for multiple reasons. The most important one was because Magnus didn’t like him in the same way, and Alec couldn't risk ruining the friendship they had built. The second reason was because of what they were discussing. It was an important topic, and this might be Alec’s only chance to adopt Madzie. He couldn’t risk screwing this up, no matter how much he wanted to kiss Magnus. 

“How does adoption work for warlocks?” Alec asked, because it was the first question he thought of and he needed a change of topic to distract himself from his thoughts of kissing Magnus.

“It’s the same as mundane adoption, with a few slight differences,” Magnus answered. There was laughter in his tone, and a hint of relief. “I can prepare the paperwork if you’d like?”

“Yes.” Alec said, “Yes, thank you.”

Magnus nonchalantly waved his hand, as if to say it was nothing. It wasn’t nothing, it was everything. He could give Madzie the home she deserved, the life she deserved after the awful first few years of her life. Alec had never thought he could have a family, or at least not one that he truly wanted. He always knew he was gay, and he knew his parent wouldn’t like that. Neither would the Clave. He always thought he would have to marry some shadowhunter girl he could never love, dooming the both of them to an unhappy life. He would have two or three children and train them to be the best warriors they could be. Now, he was a single father to a warlock child and he was happier than he ever thought he could be. Alec would obviously have to ask Madzie first, because he would never want to do something like this without the little girl's permission. It was an important decision for her too, as it would affect the rest of her life. But he was pretty sure Madzie would agree, he hoped she would be as happy about it as Alec himself was. 

Magnus had formed a portal behind him and was about to step through it when he turned around one last time to look at Alec. He smiled at Alec, a beautiful smile that made Alec blush. He really hoped Magnus didn’t see his blush, though with his luck he most likely did.

“Goodbye Alexander,” He said, “Take care of my sweetpea.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly I feel like this chapter is just word vomit. While writing I felt like I kept repeating the same things again and again, so I had to continuously rewrite this chapter. I'm still not really happy with it, but I decided to post it anyway because I don't think I'll get anything better than this.  
> I have the next chapter all planned out. I can't believe I'm almost done with this story. Thank you so much to everyone who supported this fic.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wow, the last chapter. I just wanted to thank everyone who supported this story. I can't believe I got 10k hits on my first ever fanfic.  
> Anyway, in this chapter Malec finally gets together after 30k of slow burn.

Alec had officially adopted Madzie. After Magnus and Alec had talked about the shadowhunter adopting Madzie, Magnus had been working on it. It had taken a few days to get everything ready, but not an hour ago, Alec had come over and they had gone through the paperwork for the adoption. Madzie was now officially Alec’s daughter. According to the warlocks, at least. The shadowhunters didn't have procedures for these types of things, as they had never expected for it to happen. They didn’t bother to make laws against it since they had never thought one of their own would  _ want  _ to adopt a warlock. So yes, Alec had adopted Madzie, though Magnus wasn’t sure if the shadowhunters considered the adoption a real adoption, not that he cared what the shadowhunters thought.

Magnus should have been happy. He should have been happy that the world was improving, to the point that a warlock could be adopted by a shadowhunter and feel safe. It was something that Magnus had never thought would happen. There were always shadowhunters like Valentine, or like the Clave, who thought they were better than Downworlders. There would probably always be  _ some  _ shadowhunters who thought that way, but it was getting better at least. Magnus should have been happy that Madzie was happy. He should have been happy that the girl had gotten adopted by someone who loved her, and he was. He was happy, of course he was, but he was also upset and disappointed. Since Madzie was adopted, he and Alec had decided to discontinue their weekly meetings.

After Magnus had given Madzie back to Alec, they had decided to start weekly meetings so that Magnus could check up on Madzie. Alec had been so understanding, even when Magnus didn’t trust him and treated him horribly. He had understood that Magnus was worried about Madzie, because of the discrimination against Downworlders that had been happening for as long as Magnus could remember. Magnus had needed to make sure Madzie was well and truly safe. Now that Alec was officially Madzie’s guardian, there was no need for that. If he trusted Alec to adopt Madzie, he had to trust Alec to be around Madzie without supervision. So he had no excuse to see Alec anymore.

Magnus could still talk to Alec, he had the other man’s number after all, but he doubted the shadowhunter would try to keep in contact. They would still see each other sometimes, such as during official business and when Magnus was over to give Madzie magic lessons, but that wouldn’t be very often and certainly for shorter periods of time.

Magnus had gotten used to Alec, to seeing the shadowhunter almost every day. He had gotten used to picking Madzie up from the daycare if Alec was busy and bringing her to Alec. He had gotten used to having Alec call him, even if it was for something small. He would miss that. Now, he was sure Alec would ask someone else to do those things. Magnus wasn't sure what he’d do now without Alec in his life. Maybe he was being a bit dramatic, since Alec wasn’t dead and he could still technically see him if he wanted to. But it hurt Magnus to know that he could no longer portal over to Alec’s apartment with the excuse that he was going to see how Madzie was doing. It hurt to know that he would no longer be seeing the man he could feel himself falling in love with, he would no longer get to see Alec with Madzie every day and fantasize that he and Alec were together and Madzie was their daughter. 

Magnus’s phone started ringing, warning him about an incoming call. He grabbed his phone and his heart started racing upon seeing Alec’s name on the screen. He stared at the phone for a few seconds before answering. He answered the call, but instead of being greeted by Alec’s deep voice, he was greeted by Madzie’s small voice over the tinny speaker of the cellphone. He tried not to let his disappointment show, because that wasn’t fair to Madzie. She had done nothing wrong, and Magnus adored her. It wasn’t her fault that she wasn’t Alec. She probably had not even known what the phone call had done to Magnus’s heart when he had thought it was Alec.

“Can you come over to see me, Magnus?” Madzie asked when Magnus answered the phone, “I miss you.”

Madzie had no reason to miss him, as they had seen each other not long ago, but Magnus didn’t care at the moment. He had wanted to see Alec for the better part of the day, and now he had an excuse to do so. Magnus was a little confused as to how Madzie had gotten Alec’s phone, but once again, he didn't really find it in himself to care. Though after thinking about it, he realised Madzie couldn’t have gotten into Alec’s phone without the shadowhunters permission, which meant Alec had allowed Madzie to call Magnus, which meant maybe Alec wanted to see him too, and maybe he was using Madzie to do so. It was a lovely thought, which was why Magnus knew it was probably not the case. It was probably just Madzie calling him because  _ she  _ wanted to see him, and Magnus was (as always) trying to find another, more complicated story to explain the situation.

“Of course I can come over sweetpea,” Magnus said when he realised that he had forgotten to answer the little girl, who was still patiently waiting for Magnus’s answer, “Is your dad okay with it?”

“Yes. Come quickly please,” Madzie answered, and then she hung up quickly.

Magnus stared down at the phone in confusion after that frankly strange phone call, but then he just shrugged. Madzie could act strange sometimes, as all kids did sometimes, and Magnus had learned to ignore it. It probably meant nothing. The important part was that Magnus would get to go see his favourite little warlock and favourite shadowhunter. The second part that stuck with Magnus the most was the fact that Alec had agreed to letting Magnus come over, simply to play with Madzie. Not for any specific reason, like to teach her magic, but simply to play with her. It gave Magnus hope that maybe his feelings were reciprocated, though he should have known better to hope. Oh well, his friends had always told him he had to be better at protecting his heart, he fell in love too quickly and easily. Magnus had never listened to them before, so why should he start now.

With that thought in mind, he created a portal to Alec and Madzie’s apartment and stepped through it.

-

Alec loved that he was now Madzie’s father. He didn’t care about the comments both shadowhunters and Downwordlers whispered about him. He had gotten quite a few comments from people saying he wouldn’t be a good father to Madzie, but he had quickly stopped those. He had ignored the comments whispered behind his back, but when someone had made a comment out loud in front of Madzie, he had gotten angry (though he hadn’t let it show as he didn’t want to scare Madzie) and had very calmly told them how wrong they were. He made Madzie happy, and she made him happy. Since Madzie had been staying with him, her nightmares had stopped, she had started talking more, she had made friends, she had learned better control over her magic, and the most important part was that she was happier. Alec thought he was doing a pretty damn good job at being a father to Madzie, and he didn’t bother to listen to anyone who disagreed. They had been the ones to abandon Madzie, while he was the only one who had cared enough to help her. 

So yes, Alec was happy that he and Madzie were officially a family. But there were some things that Alec didn’t love as much, for example not being able to see Magnus as often. It had been Alec who had brought up the fact that they could discontinue their meetings now that Magnus no longer had to watch Alec to make sure he was good to Madzie. They had had a long discussion about it, and if Magnus trusted Alec enough to allow him to adopt a young warlock child, then there was no reason for him to come over to watch the two of them anymore. Though it had been Alec who had brought up the subject, Alec had been hoping Magnus would refuse. He hadn't, so now Alec had ruined his best chance at seeing the older warlock as often as he had gotten used to.

Sure, he would still  _ see  _ Magnus, but not as often as before. He would get to see Magnus when the warlock came by to give Madzie her magic lessons, and they would still see each other for official business when the Institute needed a warlock's help, but that was different. There would always be someone else around, something else to focus on. When teaching Madzie magic, Magnus would have to focus on the girl to make sure she didn’t accidentally do something dangerous that could hurt someone, and if they needed a warlock at the Institute then it was certainly because there was a problem that needed magic solving. 

There would be no more calm, late-night conversations when Madzie was asleep in her room, no more eating meals with Magnus and Madzie and feeling like the three of them were a family. 

Alec’s thoughts of Magnus were interrupted by Madzie walking up to him, holding his phone in her hand. Alec had been in the process of charging his phone, and he had placed it high up on a cabinet where he knew Madzie couldn't reach. To get to it she must have used magic. Madzie had already done that a few times, which was why Alec had been trying to keep it out of her reach, but he had given up on scolding her for things like that. The little warlock was stubborn, and when she wanted something she would find a way to get it, no matter what it took. So when Madzie handed Alec his phone, he unlocked it quickly before passing it back to her. Madzie knew what not to do on the internet, and he made sure to watch her whenever she went on his phone, so he wasn't worried.

“Can Magnus come over to help me with my magic lessons?” Madzie asked as she grabbed the phone back from Alec. It didn't sound much like a question, it sounded more like Madzie was going to do it no matter what Alec answered and was only asking to be polite. That didn’t bother Alec, since he would never refuse Madzie when she was doing what Alec wanted to do as well. 

“Of course princess, do you want me to call him for you?” Alec answered the girl.

“I wanna call,” She said, shaking her head ‘no’ to add emphasis to her words. She looked down at the phone and pressed on Magnus’s number before skipping away into her room with Alec’s phone. She closed the door behind her, so Alec couldn’t hear what she was saying to Magnus. It wasn't that Alec didn’t trust Madzie, he did, it was just that he was almost certain Madzie had noticed Alec’s feelings and the idea of her talking to Magnus without him around scared him just slightly. His daughter could be like that sometimes, but Alec still loved her. 

It took exactly six minutes -yes, Alec had been counting, he had been waiting to see Magnus again- for a portal to appear in the center of the living room, and Magnus stepped out looking as perfect as always. He was wearing tight leather pants that should have been illegal, and a v-neck shirt that was a deep purple colour and showed off his caramel coloured skin. He had multiple silver necklaces around his neck, the metal pressing against his skin, and bringing even more attention to his chest. He had rings on each one of his fingers, and his nails were painted a purple colour to match his shirt. His makeup was perfect as well, with sharp eyeliner and metallic grey eyeshadow. Overall he looked beautiful, as always, and Alec felt extremely underdressed next to the warlock.

“Good, you’re both here,” Madzie said, stepping out of her bedroom. She handed Alec his phone and stepped in front of the two men with a loud, exaggerated sigh.

Madzie put her hands on her hips, her head cocked to the side just slightly as she stared at Magnus and Alec with an unimpressed look. She pushed her dark curls away from her face in an elegant gesture as she took a few steps forward until she was standing closer to the two men. The expression on her face was slightly threatening, and if it wasn’t for her short height and the fact that Alec knew she would never do anything to harm anyone, Alec might have genuinely been afraid of her. She looked  _ so much _ like Izzy at that moment, and Alec made the mental note to never let his sister around Madzie unsupervised, lest the little warlock take after her aunt and become a meddler too. Although based on what Alec was seeing, it might be a little late for that. 

“You two,” She said, waving her finger between the two of them. There was a spark of magic at her fingertips when she moved her hand, which did add to the overall  _ ‘I tried to let you do this on your own and it didn’t work, I tried to meddle and it didn't work, now I’m forcing you to talk because nothing I try is working’ _ look she was sporting. “Sort out your feelings. I’m going to be in my room.”

With that she turned on her heel and walked away, leaving Alec sitting on the couch awkwardly with Magnus standing a few meters away from him. 

“Sort out… our feelings?” Magnus repeated slowly. He was the first to break the silence that had fallen over the room.

Alec glanced down at his hands that were clenched tightly in fists. He felt his heart race from having Magnus so close, and also because Magnus knew about his feelings now. There was no more hiding, no more pretending. Magnus knew and Alec couldn’t do anything except wait to see Magnus’s reaction. He didn’t seem mad, but Alec knew that Magnus was very openly bisexual, he would never be mean about Alec’s feelings. But just because he was kind about it didn’t mean he felt the same way. If Magnus didn't like him back, their friendship could be ruined forever. Even if Magnus didn't like him, Alec would rather have Magnus just as a friend than not at all. Alec was panicking, so much that he didn’t realise that he had frozen and hadn’t yet answered Magnus.

“Alexander?” Magnus asked. He had moved closer to Alec while the shadowhunter had been panicking and lost in his thoughts of every possible way this situation could go wrong. The older warlock was now standing directly in front of Alec, so close that Alec could feel the heat radiating from his body. Alec was a shadowhunter, he fought demons every day, he shouldn’t be panicking over something as mundane as this. Yet here he was. With that thought in mind, Alec stood up from the couch, because if he was going to admit his feelings to Magnus he may as well be bold about it. He was standing only inches away from Magnus, looking into his beautiful brown eyes. They were filled with emotion as he looked back at Alec with something that looked almost like… hope?

“I- I like you Magnus,” Alec admitted. He saw Magnus open his mouth to speak, but before he could Alec continued. He had to get everything out before he lost the courage to do so. “I don’t want you to say anything, just listen. Please.” Alec paused and Magnus nodded. “I’ve liked you for a while. I don’t know when it started, maybe when I saw you with Madzie. All I know is that you've taken my heart. I’ve never felt this way before. I never thought I could have what I wanted, I never thought I could come out, as a shadowhunter. I know the chance that you feel the same way is slim. There’s no reason you’d like me too. But I just wanted- no I needed- to tell you that I’m falling in love with you. Even if you don’t like me, shadowhunters only love once. You’re it for me.”

By the time Alec had finished his speech, Magnus had tears in his eyes. Alec couldn't help panicking just slightly, because the last thing he had wanted was to upset Magnus. He wanted to wrap the warlock in his arms and hold him, protect him from the world and anyone who wanted to hurt him.

“I feel the same way,” Magnus said finally, his voice barely above a whisper. 

Magnus grabbed Alec’s wrist. Alec, who had his hands clenched into fists and his nails digging into his palms, relaxed his hands as Magnus’s ringed fingers twined with his. The warlock used their intertwined hands to pull Alec towards him. Alec felt like he was in a trance as he and Magnus stood chest to chest. Alec let his eyes flicker down to Magnus’s lips in an unspoken question. He saw Magnus do the same to him. 

“Can I kiss you?” He asked Alec, voice still quiet as though speaking loudly would break the tension between the two of them.

“Yes.”

That was all it took for Magnus to lean in and press his soft lips against Alec’s. It was tentative at first, slow and soft. It was unlike anything Alec had ever felt before. Feeling Magnus’s lips against his felt right. It felt like after his whole life, Alec had finally found where he belonged, and that was with the beautiful, eccentric, four hundred year-old warlock known as Magnus Bane. It wasn’t like the books or movies, where fireworks exploded around the couple when they kissed for the first time. It wasn’t how Alec had imagined it would be, it was better. He lost himself in the feeling of their lips moving in sync until Magnus pulled away for air. They were both smiling widely after the kiss.

“Does this mean Magnus is my daddy now too?” 

It was Madzie’s voice that finally pulled them out of their kiss induced trance. Alec -very reluctantly- broke eye contact with Magnus to look at the young warlock. She was standing in the doorway of her bedroom, looking extremely pleased with herself and more than a little mischievous. In any other situation, Alec would have been telling Madzie that meddling was bad, but he found that he was glad the little girl had done what she had done. He wasn’t sure he and Magnus would ever have confessed to their feelings for the other had it not been for her meddling. When Alec finally realised what Madzie had asked, he looked over at Magnus, who was watching him with a shy yet blinding smile on his beautiful face. And really, how could Alec ever be expected to say anything but yes when he was looking at the two faces he loved most in the world. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to thank everyone who supported this story. Your support was the reason I could finish this fic. When I lost inspiration I would read the supportive comments and it gave me the inspiration to finish the fic.  
> I had no idea this fic would be so long. It was supposed to be 5 or 6 chapters and about 10k words. Now I'm at 12 chapters and 30k words. I have no idea how this happened.  
> I want to keep writing fics but not anything multi chaptered for now, so if you guys have any oneshot prompts for me feel free to comment them! :)
> 
> 2020-07-02: I just created a TikTok so if you want gay content and kpop content my @ is confused.and.bisexual


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